# The Attorney General of Texas May 7, 1979 MARK WHITE Attorney General
Honorable.BobArmstrong CommisMoner General LandOffice Austin, Texas 78701 OpinionNo. Ri+18 Re: Whether land devised to the state by will is part of the PermanentSchool Fund. Dear CommissionerArmstrong: You ask whether land devised to the State of Texas under an individual’swill becomes a part of the Permanent School Fund of Texas. You state that, under the terms of the will, the state is the recipient of a 309.17 acre tract of landin Travis County. It is well established that, in the absence of any statutory or constitutional prohibition, the State ‘of Texas may receive property by devise. Conle v. Da Y 156S.W. 197, 200 (Tex. 1913). See Gpinkmof the Justices, 251A.2d 330 (N.H. 1969). We have discovered no constitutional or statutory provision which precludes acceptance of the bequest, nor which provides for its specific disposition. Neither was the bequest made to a specific state agency nor directed to a specific purpose. Beginning as early as 1699 ~the Jegislature has, however, consistently demonstratedits clear intent that all state landsnot designatedto a specific agency should become a part of the Permanent School Fund. The successor to the 1699

statute declares: (a) The permanent school fund, which shall constitute a perpetual endowment for the public free schools of this state, shsll consist of:

. . . . (2) AR the unappropriated public domain remaining in Texas, including all land recovered by the state & suit or - otherwise..

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Education Code S 15.01 (emphasii added). In the Coastal Public LandsManagement Act of 1973, the legislature provided for the disposition of certain kinds of gifts of interests in land: (a) The [School Land1 board may accept gifts of interests in land, andthese interests shallbecome part of the permanentschool fundunlessotherwise designatedby the grantor. (b) At the discretion of the board, the land may be managedas if it were coastal public land within the meanifig of this chapter. Nat. Res. Code S 33.057. Likewise, article 3281,V.T.C.S., indicates a similar intent with regsrd to escheated lands:

All lands heretofore or hereafter escheated to the State of Texas by provisions of this Title are hereby dedicated, appropriated and set apart to the Permanent Free School Fund of the State of Texas.

. . . We believe that, considered together, these statutes furnish ample evidence of a consistent state policy that lands not designatedto a specific agency shouldbe deemed to belong to the PermanentSchool Fund. Accordingly, it is our opinion that land devised to the State of Texas underthe terms of ’an individual’swill becomes a part of the Permanent School Fundof Texas. ,. SUMMARY Land devised to the State of Texas under the terms of an individual’swill and not designated to a particular use becomes a part of the PermanentSchool Fundof Texas.

-MARK WHITE Attorney General of Texas JOHNW. FAINTER,JR. First AssistantAttorney General TED L. HARTLEY Executive AssistantAttorney General Preparedby Milton Richardson andRick Gilpin AssistantAttorneys General

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APPROVED: OPINION

COMMITTEE C. Robert Heath, Chairman David B. Brooks Rick Gilpin WilliamG Reid Milton Richardson Bruce Youngblood

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