.



### NonoPable Jesse James State Treasur4r Trea#ury Department Austin, Texas

Dear Mr, James: October 26, 1961 Opinion No, W- 1180 

### Re: Whether the Deport0 required by H,,B*No. 5, 57th Le lelature, Called 8 let

eeslon, being the amendment

to the Tsxas Ercheat Statutes, to ba madeby 

### holders of personal property include only pxroperty due **persone**whoae last TX% resMenos was in

. This re,fera to your r4cent 3,4tter posing fiv4 quastiiona with respect to Muse Bi31 No,. 5, Act4 57th Leg., 1st C,, S. 

### 3961, Ch. 21, P. 25. Your first quesW.on foLlow4:

1 l m,e definition of personal property **in** the eaoheat statute Is limited to pronerty held by a per

### son or bepeflclaiy whose laet Knownresidence was in Texas. Therefore, should the report by the holder lnolude only amounts due Persons whose last knownre

### aldenoe wae Iti Texas?” House Bill No. 5 adds to the present 44ch4at e$etut44 a new article 

### aenomhated Article 3272a. After requlr* every person holdingl personaZ property 

### sub eot to esoheat to lW4 a r4 of with the Stete Treasurer, &I 4 4rtlcl4, 

### ln SeetiolD 1 vldem Ln:pax?t

: 

### fb

“The term ‘personal propertyj, Includes, but is not linsJ,~ed~

to.?.money, .,.,I

f

. and a31 other pprsonal property and 1~%1%4V14tits thereto, whether tangible or Intangible; and whether held within this State, or without the State for a Per6on or beneficiary whose last knownaddress was in this Sitate,” (lQnph&sis 

### supplied)Honorable Jsrse JnmH, plj4 2 (MfI4160)

_’

3x4 

### ~Ze@sL~W~, ;Laow opinlori, Intended by this deiinition bf personaJ, propert eschedt whloh is he1 

### to, inolude a31 peraonal property sub,jeotto d 14 this State, regardlees of the Isat:,knom realdeki.or the ben4?ioiary OF (LzWon ,Sor whom

the pro&q& is : held, and that held outside the iitate for a 

### peraon~.or~~~Pehe 4’ ofary’ w&melast knowr,rssidenoe ued tn thle State. Zt is’ desnonstr4W.y03~4 that the 

### ppaee “for a p-son or benefkw, whqa 

### lqt &nom r4aldence was **In.** this- Stat4’ modlflee only the word@ h43.dc *.

. wIthout the State”, and lk!&the 

### worde **“ held;w&thhin**  **t-h%@** 

### State'. The position Of the larf coma In the provision quoted above is Indicative of the 14 Ir3atlve Intent as to+this. Is;ltferz It, segregatea the phrqse “for a per- ‘, aoDor: bsneficlary~whose la@ known’reeidence was.in, t&Is State” with the words, “oy Pithout the State”, 

### Beyond that; socording to: standard rules of gramaF, the phraae “or without the State” would ‘havebeen followed by a oomma,as In the aaee of all,,:parenthetitiq ,,exJ)rel)bl~ono,1E the, rords “for. 8 ’ peynoq or benefic+ary. whose.$a##,knownres2dcyloe was,ID this, Stqte tkided to qualify the phrase ‘inthin this State! P had b&m, inAalde fro; the Soxego$$~&$3 the oontrak had b,4wl&ntended by the. L4&4%4$UTO,j )rcl, :.+!&!I Uxg4Ct tQ riFld the pDotir&Dn”@awn 83 

### a8 to 

### ol&i%ly sst So&h such contrary intention, ior example, a8 follown: %?JStern ~+#!4oaal property’ lncludee but ts not 12mited to, mney
. .“

. and all o.ther’ pemQna1 DroDertv and Inorements thereto held~for a Demon eneilo$ary whoare knowni?esldenoe mm St t h th -&k&vi:h~ o”f 1 it lble, and whetetza xa’ 

### Moreover, Article 3272a elsewhere demonstratee that th4 ‘etatute contemplates.. the report* of property.. regardless OS.the State of the beneflcd.ary*s Last loldw~residence.. Seotlon; $0 remove8all doubtin thla rerrptii3tby taking away, under certein epeclfled oondl~lons, the atatutefs presumption of abandoDnentin the case ,of ; property which is subject to the protielons of this artloie’etnd is held fo ’r or ownedor dietributable to an owner aoee last ktio%m ree&ldenceia In another State bx a holder whoie subject to the jurksd;lc,tion of thie State

. , 6. The quo- : ted protialon recogD&es that personal property which ia held~by persons in tNe State and dirlledbypersons whose laat knoun residense la outaide of thla Stat4 is Dequlred to be reported and 18, under. certain conditions, subject to escheat by virtue of this article, AocozWngly, your .Xlrrst question 16‘answered in the ne-Honorable Jeese James, page 

### 3 (~~-1180) I

gatlve

. Your.second qu*atictn Is as follows: "2. *e report ‘of mineral proceeds is to aonsist 0S a list of. all credits grotiped ~a8to. .the nountiers Srom.wh$ehthe cpedited proceed&were QePlved. !LhereSore, should the ‘report of mineral proceed& ‘,by the holder be llm$ted to proceeds froni produotion Sro~ Tqras i3ountles?” .!l%e, relevant portion 0: Article 3272a reads an Sollows:

“Section 2* Formof Report.

. . ,I

. t

.

‘(c) In the case OSmineral proceeds, a 1 OSall credits @uped as to.th& countler Sm the ored.ited .x?roceeda were derived Including ‘b which have theretosore been chapneh off'or'dfripored of In anymanner except by payment to -the ownes thereof; giving the nameand lasHmown address OSthe owner; the fraotlonal mineral Interest of t& o@nar; description and location of the land or ledsb.lhroa which the 091, gas or>other ml&al wa8.p’tidQ6cd; the nsmeof the person, firm or corpofiatlon ORB0 operated ‘~ the oil or gas well or mine; the period OStimefledurl.ng which such proceeds accumulated landthe prfce for II&$& such oil, gas, or other mineral was sold, each duch several ownerships to be given an ldentlfylng niamber. The nature and identifying number, If any, OPdescrlption’of the property, and the amount &ppMbUq from the records to **be** due, except ‘that Items of valkie.under Ten Dollars ($10) each maybe reported in aggregate.;” (ibuphasis added). There Is nothI@ ln’the above language, or fn the balance of the article, to indicate that the Legfslature was referring to Texas counties only. Wemust assume theri that the section mems counties irrespective of the State In which such counties

‘are eltuated. This is the only construction which would be consistent with the fact that the article applies to certain pro- ,perty held without. the State of Texas as well aa to that held wlthln the State **of** Texas. Acaordingly, your second queation~is answered in the negative.Honorable 3esse James, page 4 

### (,#-1~8b)

Your thlro question is as Sollows:

, 

### "3. ‘The report of 3nlneral proeeeds is tc, inelude thedescrlptlon end location of the land or lease Srom’whlch 

### the 011, ges or mlneral was produced, WI11the Slle~.nuabar of the holder an.dthe style of the property be a suSSlclent description?” This article does requlre a “descrlptlon an’dlocation of ’ the land or lease from which the ofl,,gas or mAnera was produced”, The article does not, specify that t3e description and, location must be a legal or metes and,bounds description and location. Onthe other hand, It does not say that a mere reference to a deskriptlon,and location ls sufflclent, In this sftuatlon the obvlouspurpose of the reporting is to present lnformation whlch!ls, without further Investigation, sufflclent to put claimants on notlce that the property is subject to es&eat and sufficient to enable the State to bring suit TV determine judicially that such property haa escheated,’ TS-.erefore, It would be counter to the purpose of the article to cc ’mpel the State and other claimants to search private records and files In order to identify the property and Its source. ,In our oainfon, the report must, therefore, ~present information whlc,hIs, at least, suSflclent to enable one to Identify and locate the proper.ty by referring to the public records of the county and state in which the property is situated and ,without having to refer to the files of the holder or to any other private files, ;+3xc; your third question is answered’ in the negative, Your fourth question Is as follows: “4* The report of the tineral proceed!e 1.2,t.o include the~nsmeof the, pereon, firm OPcc~~rp~ratlonivno operated the 011 or gas well or mine. Will t.riename of the last operator be sufficient?" In our opinion, Section 2(c), quoted abcve; mesh; tl-a cperator of the oil or gas well or mine at ? “:e time il :‘ mineral proceeds were produced and this would, of course9 incl.&z more than one operator if there was mor;ethan one operator dilr:ng such period. Your question Is, therefore, ansrerel In t%e negative., The fifth question follows: “5* The report of mineral proceeds is t.o include the price for which the oil, gas or other minerals was sold. Does ‘pricel meanthe total amountof moneyHonorable Jesse James, page 5 (WW-ll$O)

received for the minerals sold for each owner listed in the report?”

fines Webster’s NewInternational Dictionare, Second Edition, dethe word “price” es follows:

“1

. Value; estimation; preciousness; excellence, worth.

. . 2. In the broadest sense, the quantfty of one thing that is exchanged or demandedin barter or sole of another; the exchange value of one tP&Pgexpressed in terms of units of another thing; in the narrower and more coxtunon

sense the amount of money given, or set as the amount that will be given or received, in exchange for anything; specif., the amount at which actual current transactions take place in the market”

. In our opinion, the Legislature here used the word ‘yprlce” in the more commonsense, as denoting the amount of money received for the minerals rather than the amount of money received per unit sold. It la our further opinion that the total price was intended to be reported, as distinguished from the pPlce from time to time received on various sales of minerals. Asaertainment of the varying unit pric,e of minerals does not seem to us to be the purpose of the article and such information would not appear to be of material benefit in identifying the mineral proceeds. Accordingly, your final question Is answered in the affirmative. SUNMARY

Under House Bill No. 5, 57th Legislature 1961, First Called Session, reports by holders of personal pro

tF erty to the State Treasurer are to include : 1 certain personal property held within this State, regardless of the last known ad?rsss of the person or beneficiary for whcm t?&eproperty Is held, and that held without the State 1,311 s person or beneficiary whose last known addreec: wa,cjin this State; (21 mineral proceeds from .eounties outside of Texas as well as colntle:: within *-Ma State; (3) a description and location cf ’ 3;s lease and property from which oil, gas or m%tlerals was produced, which is sufficient to enable a personto identify and locate the lease and land by referringHonorable Jesse James, page 

### 6 (WW-1180)

to the public records of the county in which the property Is situated and without having to refer to the files of the holder;, (4) the nameof all operators of the oil or gaa well or mine during the period in which tinerals were produced; and 

### (5) the total amountof moneyreceived for minerals sold for each owner listed in the report.

Very truly yours,
WICL LEON Attor y General of Texas

KGB/rd APPROVED; OPltMON

COM!XTTEE W. V. Geppert, Chaiman Vernon Teofan 

### GordonCam W, Rey Scruggs Ben Herrison RwlEwEDFORTHE

ATTORNEY

GENERAL BYI Houghton Brownlee, Jr.