Case Information
*1 .,
\ OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN
GROVERSELLERS
AlrORNEY GENER.4‘
BOnOlbhle ~Ohh B. wiilters, Executive Director
State Department of Public Welfare
Austin 3, Texas
Dear Mr. Winters: Opinion No. O'-6694
*We shall 'appreciate eration and
7 of t!ouse' blio Welfare Federal on ais- Government in
tribution of
d and available for tment of Public Vel- e State Agency to ferrals and certifioa- 8 Administretlon, the ion, and the Civilian 0 these provisions, the Department are accepted responsibi3ity fop the genera3 supervision of the direct distribution of Federal surplus comod$tiee. Under the Ink& end Certification program, the eligible applicants
were certified for surplus commodities. The oop- ies of the orders to individuals, reports of dis- tribution, and al3 other necessary records were kept in the possession of the EepartEert of Pub- lic Welfzro. Although the ccployees working @n the distribution pro.qam were under a F.P.A.
project Andy were Federal empl@goes, the Pepart- ment had general supervision over the program.
%. ! . 856 Scnorbble John k. Wii,ters-@age 2
The oommodifies, whioh were distributed, were Federal; and the records were considered by the Depar++metit as being Federal records. There are at the present time more than 600 files contain- ing.these records stored in the County Depart- ment of Public Welfare offices and warehouses. l we have received a l~etter from the W. 6. Dfi-
. partment of Agriculture, Food Distribution Adminis- tration, informing us that the Washington office of thk Department of Agriculture has given per- mission for the welfare agencies to dispose of any records in 00nneotion with the direct distri- bution program relating to operations prior to 1940.
%%e Depa~rtment of Agriculture further,&ivised that the records maintained~oommencing with IQ40 cannot > be.disposea of without special permission but that
oon&deration would be given to an+ request for the aestruotion of the records subsequent to 1940.
*Senate Bill 260, Acts of the 40th Legislaturer Regular Session, gives the Department of Public Wet- fare permission to dispose of certain obsolete ret-, ~oraa. Reference is also made to your Opinion Numb@* O-3464 and O-5467 wherein you have interpreted Sen-" ate Bill 250.
~*,l. Sinoe~ these records are of.no benefit to,the Department of Fublic Welfare since the Federal' map of Pub110 Welfare destroy..these Department Government has authorized the destruction of them, obsolete records?
s2. If y& answer the first question in the, af- firmative~ then is the Department of Pub110 Welfare .obligated to folloy the procedure outlined in Sen- titeI~~ill 260 oltea above in destroying the records? .’
.?' #3i It'&&ate Bill'250 is c&sidered inapplicable in this instance, then what yocedure should be PoJ- .lowed. by the Department of Public jVelfare in destroy- ing thit reoords?
"4. If tde Department Oannot dispose of the iecords, may the Department transfer recoraks to the C. S. T?erartment of A&culture, F00a MS- trib.uticn~ and Administration, for difiposal?'
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Honorhble Jbhn’lI. dnters - page 3
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construe your inquiries as embracing all obso3ete and usel~ess record8 in your Department , and shall answer them aooordingly.
1. Pour only authority for destroying obsolete records is found in Setiate Bill 250 of Begular Session of the 48th Legislature (page 363). That Aot ~embraces only @Certain records, for the yea.rs 1932 to September 1, 1939*, "all duplicate old- age assistanoe records accumulated for the yea.r 1936 through Octob- er, 1938.'
So that, under the faots stated by you, all obsolete and useless records coming wfthin Senate B11'1 No. 250 may be de- .stropea. While such records as you may deem to be obnolote'ana usele.ss but not coming within that dot of authority to destroy ~mar not be destroyed, but should be preserved. intaot.
2: .Sinoe Senate Bill z's0 preacri.bes the prooedure for destroying the obsolete reoords embraoed therein, it is your duty to follow that procedure in making suah~disposition.
3. What we have said in answer to questions 1 ana 2
,s+ficiently ~knswers Noted. . .
4. four question Nyo~.' 4 should be answered in the neg- ative - that 1s to say, obsolete and useless records authoriGa by Senate Bill 260 to be destroyed should be destroyed in v.oaord- ante. with that Bill,- as above stated, and as to those records rhioh'are thought to be obsolete useless, but which do not fall within the compass of Senate Bil,l 250, may not be transfer- red'to the 0. 6. Department of Agriculture, Food Produotion and Administration, for that would be doing by indirection what we have said may not be done at all.
We trust that what we-h&e said sufficiently answers pour"inquiries.
Very truly pours
Assisiant