The Honorable H. R. Nieman, Jr. Opinion No. H-047 

Director 

State Building Commission Re: Authority of Board 

Stephen F. Austin Building of Control and State 

Austin, Texas Building Commission. 

Dear Mr. Nieman: 

You have requested our opinion concerning the relative 

authority of the Building Commission and the Board of Control regarding the allocation of space in a building, which 

was recently acquired by the Building Commission on behalf 

of the State. Following what you have termed a major renovation, the building will be used for state offices. You 

have asked whether the Building Commission or the Board of 

Control has title to the building and the power to allocate 

the space therein. 

Article 665, V.T.C.S., provides in part: 

The State Board of Control shall have 

charge and control of all public buildings, 

grounds and property of the State . . . . 

[alnd the Board shall be authorized to 

provide for the allocation of space in any 

of the public buildings to the departments of 

the State Government. 

Article 67Sm, V.T.C.S., which establishes the Building 

Commission, provides in part: 

p. 3571 
The Honorable H. R. Nieman, Jr. - page 2 (H-847) 

Sec. 3. The Commission shall have the 

authority to promulgate such rules and 

regulations as it deems proper for the 

effective administration of this Act. Under 

such terms and conditions as may be provided 

by law, the Commission may acquire necessary 

real and personal property, modernize, remodel, 

build and equip buildings for State purposes 

. . . . 

. * . 

Sec. 7. The Commission shall obtain title 

for the state and retain control of the real 

property acquired for sites and of the buildings located thereon until final construction 

is completed and the buildings are occupied 

by the state agencies to be housed therein, 

at which time the management and control of 

said buildings including the inventory values 

of the sites and the buildings located thereon, 

shall be transferred to the Board of Control. 

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the 

initial occupants shall be those state agencies 

agreed upon by the Commission and the Board of 

Control. This Section, as amended, shall apply 

to all new state buildi,ngs constructed heretofore or that may be constructed hereafter in 

Austin, by the State Buildi,ng Commi.ssion. 

Article 67Sf, V.T.C.S., the State Building Construction 

Administration Act designates the Commission as the administering 

agency, section 5(A); empowers the Commission to enter 

construction contracts, section 81Cj; and authorizes the 

Commission to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to 

implement its powers, duties, and responsibilities, section 

5(F). Section 13(C) provides that: 

Upon completion of the project the Commission shall release the same to the using 

agency . . . O 

p. 3572 
The Honorable H. R. Nieman, Jr. - page 3 (H-847) 

Section 2(A) provides that: 

[T]he State Board of Control shall be 

considered the using agency for . . . stateowned buildings maintained by the Board. 

Article 678m was enacted in 1955 pursuant to article 3, 

section 51-b(c) of the Texas Constitution. The Building 

Commission thereby became the authority which acquires and 

constructs state property. Prior to its 1963 amendment, 

section 7 of article 678m read: 

The Commission shall obtain title for the 

state and retain control of the real property 

acquired for sites and of the buildings located 

thereon until final construction is completed 

and the buildings are occupied by the state 

agencies to be housed therein, at which time 

the management and control of said buildings 

shall be transferred to the Board of Control. 

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the 

initial occupants shall be those state agencies 

agreed upon by the Commission and the Board of 

Control. 

Since article 665 had long been in existence and since 

article 678f was not enacted until 1965, the progression of 

control over state property from 1955 to 1963 was as follows. 

The Building Commission acquired the property and performed 

any construction projects necessary. V.T.C.S. art. 678m, fi 

3. These projects have always included ones of renovation 

and repair. Attorney General Opinions M-780 (1971); M-695 

(1970); NW-1429 (1962); NW-1215 (1961); NW40 (1957). After 

the construction was completed and the building occupied the 

Commission transferred control thereof to the Board. V.T.C.S. 

art. 678m, § 7. The Board then had charge and control of 

the building. V.T.C.S. art. 665. Thus a system was established 

which provided statutory authority for the acquisition, 

construction, control, and transfer of control of state 

buildings. 

In 1963 section 7 of article 678m was amended to include 

the clause relating to the transfer of inventory values and 

the last sentence of the present section, which states: 

p. 3573 
The Honorable H. R. Nieman, Jr. - page 4 (H-847) 

This Section, as amended, shall apply 

to all new state buildings constructed 

heretofore or that may be constructed hereafter in Austin, by the State Building 

Commission. 

Prior to the addition of this sentence there was nothing in 

section 7 that would have confined its application to less 

than the entirety of article 678m. As previously noted, 

article 678m has always applied to the acquisition and 

renovation of buildings; therefore, before its 1963 amendment, section 7 also applied to such buildings. 

In our opinion, the Legislature did not intend to narrow 

the application of section 7 by adding the last sentence thereof; 

rather, the Legislature intended to make clear that section 7 

applied in part to "new state buildings constructed . . . 

by the State Building Commission." Had the Legislature 

intended to limit that application of section 7, they could 

easily have stated that the section applied on1 

-8 

to such 

"new state buildings." To merely state that t e section 

applies to such buildings is not to provide that it applies 

to no others. Thus any restriction on the existing application 

of section 7 would be by implication. We do not believe the 

Legislature intended to imply such a restriction, for amendments 

are construed so as to harmonize with the Act amended. 82 

C.J.S, Statutes, 9 384, p. 897. Since article 678f was not 

in existence at the time of the amendment in question, any 

restriction of the application of section 7 to less than that 

of article 678m would result in a lack of statutory authority 

for the transfer of control of buildings other than "new state 

buildings constructed . O . by the I . . Commission." Such 

a construction of the amendment would create a lack of 

harmony in the act amended and would run counter to the rule 

of construction that amendments are to be construed as part 

of a coherent system of legislation. 82 C.J.S. Statutes, 9 

384, pa 896. It is therefore our opinion that the application 

of section 7 of article 678m was not and is not limited to "new 

state buildings constructed . a . by the State Building 

Commission:" rather, section 7 applies to all buildings acquired 

and constructed by the Commission in the absence of a specific 

statute indicating otherwise. 

p. 3574 
The Honorable H. R. Nieman, Jr. - page 5 (H-847) 

We do not believe section 13(C) of article 678f to,be 

such a statute. Even were it to apply to newly acquired buildings 

and require the transfer thereof to the Board of Control as the 

"using agency," a question we need not decide, section 13(C) 

in no way abrogates the specific provisions of section 7 of 

article 670m. Such an abrogation would constitute an implied 

repeal of the provisions of section 7 of article 678m, and 

would be inconsistent with the rules of statutory construction. 

53 Tex. Jur. 2d Statutes, SS 100, 102, 104. 

Section 7 of article 678m is therefore applicable. Its 

provisions put title and control of acquired buildings in the 

Building Commission, require a transfer to the Board of Control 

after renovation is completed and the building is occupied, 

and state that the initial occupants will be those agreed 

upon by the Board and the Commission. In the event that the 

two agencies cannot agree on the initial occupants, in our 

view the Building Commission is the superior authority in the 

matter, since article 678m, section 8 provides: 

Sec. 8. The Commission shall have the 

authority to call on any Department of State 

Government to assist it in carrying out the 

duties of the Commission. And particularly, 

it shall be the duty of the Board of Control 

to do and perform such acts and functions in 

connection with this Act as the Commission 

may direct .~ . . . 

- See V.T.C.S. art. 678m, S 3. 

Furthermore, in Attorney General Opinion WW-1215 (1961), 

this office stated: 

We are of the opinion that the functions 

given the Board of Control under this Act 

have to do, mainly, with the management of 

the buildings after being occupied by the 

State agencies and the control of the personal 

property located therein and that any additional 

duties given the Board of Control as to state 

building sites and properties are to be delegated 

to the Board of Control by the State Building 

Commission. 

p. 3575 
The Honorable ?I. R. Nieman, Jr. - page 6 (H-84%1 

It is therefore our opinion that the control and title 

to a recently acquired and renovated building are lodged 

with the Building Commission until transferred to the Board 

of Control pursuant to section 7 of article 678m. Nothing 

in this opinion is intended to alter the Board's duty under 

the General Appropriations Act to provide utility' service to 

the building. 

SUMMARY 

When a building is acquired by the State 

and is to be renovated and repaired, 

control of the building is transferred 

from the State Building Commission to the 

State Board of Control at the completion 

of the renovation. 

Very truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

Opinion Committee 

jwb 

p. 3576