## TEEATTORNEYGENEFCAL OFTEXAS
AUSTIN 11, TExas WVILL WILSON **ATTORNEY GENERAL**  August 29, 1960
Honorable ArthurW. Young, Chairman Texas Seed and Plant Board ,Texas Technological College .Lubbock,Texas OpinionNo. WW-925 Re: Whether Article@'a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, authorizes the State Seed and PlantBoard to prohibit the sale in Texas of certified OP registered seed from other statesproducedunder minimum standards lower than those establishedby the Dear Mr. Young: Seed Board. In your letter requesting an opinion from this office, you ask whether the State Seed and PlantBoard is authorized to prohibit the sale in Texas of certified or registered seed from other statesproducedunder minimum standards lower than those establishedby the. Seed Board. Article 57, Vernon's Civil Statutes, as amendedby House Bill 105, Acts of the 56th Legislature,Regular Session, ,1959, states In part:

"Theadministrationof the licensingprovisions of Title 4, Chapter 2 of the Revised Civil Statutes and of Chapter 93, Acts of the Forty-first Legislature,First Called Session, 1929 . shallbe vested In a Board to be known ai Ehe State Seed and PlantBoard
. . All applicants for license as a registered'or certified seed grower shall furnish such information as the Board may require
. . .The Board shall approve and issue licenses for registered and certified seed growers,promulgate rules and regulationsgoverning
. . . registered or certified seeds
. . .".

Honorable Arthur W. Young, Page 2 (WW-925)

Section 4(b), Article @a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides: "The Commissionerof Agriculture shall promulgate rules
. . .under which cotton, alfalfa, corn and sorghum aeed for planting purposesmay be shipped Into Texas, and providing that no cotton, alfalfa, corn or sorghum seed for plantingpurposesmay be shipped into Texas for planting purposesunless said seedmeet the requirementsas set forth by the Commissioner of Agriculture.
. . Said Commissioner,throughhis agents . . . may investigatethe quality of the seed to be shipped into the State
. . . and further providing that the Commissioner of Agrlculture shallhave full authority to refuse permission to any applicant to ship cotton, alfalfa, corn or sorghumplanting seed into Texas when the records and informationof the agents of said Commissioner of Agriculture show the seed to be of Inferiorquality, lacking prescribedvarietalpurity, from diseased flelile, or other reasonsprescribed in the rules and regulationsunder the provisions of this Section." Section 4(f), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes states: "Providingthat all planting seed shipped Into Texas and bearing the label denoting Registered or Certified. Seed shallhave been produced under standards equal to the existing standards In Texas for such Class of seed. Such seed coming Into the State of Texas and being declaredby the Commissioner of Agriculturenot to have been producedunder Registrationand Certification standards equal to the Texas standards, shall not bear the labels or be represented as Registered or Certified Seed
. . . Such seedmay bear the Registration or Certlflcationtag issued In the State of originprovided such tags are plainlymarked 'TheseSeed do not meet the requirements of Registration or Certiflcatlor in Texas'.". -

Honorable Arthur W. Young, Page 3 (WW-925)

It is the o inlon of this office that by the enactment of Section E(f),Article 67a, Ve,rnon's Civil Statutes, the Legislaturedid not give the State Seed and Plant Board the authority to prevent the movement into Texas of seed under a certified or registered seed label from any other state even though theminimum certificationrequirements are lower than those In Texas. However, the Legislature clearly stated that such seed cannotbear the tag or be represented as registered or oertified seed, and the tagmust state that the seeds "donotmeet the requirements of Registration or Certification in Texas.I' It Is the further opinion of this office that under Section 4 (b),Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, that the Commissioner of Agriculturemay refuse to permit cotton, alfalfa, corn and sorghum seed for plantingpurposes to be shipped into Texas when the records and information of the Commissioner show the seed to be of inferiorquality or have other defects as set out in Section 4(b), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, above cited. This opinion is not to be construedas holding that an out-of-stateproducermust not meet the requirements of Article 93b, Vernon's Civil Statutes,which Is the Texas Seed Law, Attorney Cleneral's Opinion O-2554.

SUMMARY Section 4(f), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, does not authorize the State Seed and Plant Board to prevent the shipment into Texas of certifiedand reglstered seedsproduced in other states even though theminimum requirements for certification In other statesare lower than those In Texas. However, such seed cannot bear the tag or be representedas registered or certified seed, and the tagmust state that the seeds 'donot meet the requirements of Registration or Certification in Texas." The Commissionerof Agriculturedoes have authority to refuse to permit cotton, alfalfa, corn or sorghum seed for planting purposes to be shipped into TexaswhenHonorable Arthur W. Young, Page 4,(WW-925)

his records and Information show the seed to be of inferiorquality or fok other reasons listed In Section 4(b), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON AttorneyGeneral of Texas

Assistant

MJs:mm APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE W. V. Oeppert, Chairman Ben M. Harrison Marietta Payne C. K. Richards REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.