Honorable W. Lee O'Danlel 

Governor of~~Texas 

Austin, Texas 

Attention: Honorable Tom L. Beauchamp, Jr. 

Dear Governor O'Daniel: Opinion No. O-3095 

Re: Sale of a part of Texas 

Agricultural Experiment 

Station, Substation No. 2. 

We have your letter January 17, 1941, in which our 

opinion is requested on the questions therein presented. Your 

letter is: 

"Governor O'Danlel has received a request 

from A~. B. Conner, Director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, for the execution 

of a deed which he enclosed to certain lands 

held by that agency. The deed, together with 

the request, and also a letter to Mr. Conner from 

the Acting Secretary of the Board of Directors of 

A & M College requesting preparation of the deed 

are attached hereto. The Governor respectfully 

requests your approval as to form of this instrument and your opinion 'as tz the legal propriety 

of his executing the same. 

We assume from your request that you desire to know 

whether or not you have the legal authority to execute the 

deed in questton upon the showing made to you by the Directors 

of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. We further assume 

that the instruments mentioned in your letter and forwarded 

for our ConsFderation constitute the full record before you. 

Articles 137 and 138, Revlsed Civil Statutes of Texas, 

vest in the Board of Directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College broad authority and. powers relative to the establishment, supervision and control over experiment stations. 

Article 139 of the Revised Civil Statutes provides: 

The Board shall haQe power: 

"1 . To establish sub-experiment stations at 
. 

Honorable W. Lee O'Daniel, page 2 0 -3095 

such places in this State as it shall deem proper, 

in addition to those now in operation. 

"2 . To abandon or discontinue any sub-station 

which may become undesirable for experiment purposes, 

and-'if deemed necessary to establish others intheir 

stead at such other places in the same county as it 

shall deem advisable. 

“3 . To sell any land or other State vroperty 

used In the oueration of an exoeriment station when 

so abandoned, and to apply the proceeds of such 

sale in the purchase of other land and property 

for the establishment of experiment stations." 

(Underscoring ours) 

These provisions expressly confer upon the Board of 

Directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College the power 

and authority to sell any land or other State property used 

'in the operation of an experiment statlon. This right and 

authority to sell and dispose of suoh State~property is limited to and does not become existent, however, until there has 

been an abandonment of that sought to be sold. The power to 

abandon such land is predicated upon a determination by the 

Board of Directors that such property has "become undesirable 

for experiment purposes." Whether the land sought to be sold 

has been "abandoned" for reason of having become "undesirable 

for experiment purposes" does not affirmatively appear in 

the record before us. 

Whether or not the land nought to be conveyed .to the 

Federal Government has become "undesirable for experiment 

purposes" which will warrant an abandonment thereof is a fact 

question left to the determination of the Board of Directors 

of the College. If in the exercise of their discretion they 

determine that such land is no longer desirable for the purpose for which it was acquired and used, they should pass a 

resolution to that effect and likewise expressly abandon the 

same making such resolution a part of the minutes of the Board. 

A copy thereof should be furnished you. 

The deed submitted recites a consideration of 'one 

($l,OO) dollar and other good and valuable tionsiderations" 

paid by the United States. In this connection we desire to 

point out that the power to abandon and sell property given 

the Board by the Legislature does not imply a right to give 

such property away nor to dispose of the same for any but an 

adequate cash consideration. The law contemplates that the 

proceeds received from such sales will be used by the Board 

to purchase other property for use in connection with experi- 
Honorable W. Lee O'Daniel, page 3 O-3095 

ment purposes. If the "Other good and valuable considerations" 

recited in the deed is the understanding that the Federal Gov-. 

ernment will build a building on the land sought to be conveyed, such consideration is not within the contemplation of the 

statutes as clearly it could not be used "in the purchase 

Of other land and property for the establishmentof experiment stations." You should therefore determine whether cr 

not the cash consideration recited in the deed is adequate as 

being the reasonable cash market value of that sought to be 

conveyed. 

We trust that the above discussion of the law involved 

will aid you in the performance of your duty. 

All instruments submitted with your request are respectfully returned. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Lloyd Armstrong 

Lloyd Armstrong 

Assistant 

LA:db:wc 

APPROVED MAR 19, 1941 

s/Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS