June 4, 1990
Hon. Frank M. Jackson Opinion No.M-644
Executive Secretary
Teacher Retirement System of Texas Re: Authority of the Board of
314 W. 11th Street Trustees of the Teacher
Austin, Texas 78701 Retirement System to in-
vest trust funds of the
System in home office
facilities, including land,
equipment, and office
building to be used in ,,
administering the System,
and related questions.
Dear Mr. Jackson:
You have requested the opinion of this office regarding the
following specific questions:
"1. Does the State Board of Trustees of the
Teacher Retirement System have authority to invest
trust funds of the Teacher Retirement System in home
office facilities including land, equipment and office
building to be used in administering the System?
"2 , If your answer to Question No. 1 is in the
affirmative, does the State Board of Trustees of the
Teacher Retirement System have authority to manage and
control such buildings and grounds purchased or built
with funds of the Teacher Retirement System?
"3.~ If your answer to Question No. 2 is in the
negative, would the State Board of Control have juris-
diction over such buildings and grounds.
"4. If your answer to Question No. 2 is, in the
affirmative, would the State Board of Trustees of the
Teacher Retirement System have authority to pay expenses
incurred for operating, maintaining, repairing and im-
proving the buildings and grounds described in Question No. l?"
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. .
Hon. Frank M. Jackson. page 2 (M-644)
The Teacher Retirement System was created~and is governed by
Article 3, Section 48b, Constitution of Texas, which reads, in
its pertinent part, as follows:
"There is hereby created as an agency of the State
of Texas the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, the
rights of membership inwhich, the retirement privileges
and benefits thereunder, and the management and operations
of which shall be governed by the provisions herein
contained and by present or hereafter enacted Acts of
the Legislature not inconsistent herewith. The general
administration and responsibility for the proper opera-
tion of said system are hereby vested in a State Board
of Trustees, to be known as the State Board of Trustees
of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, .... Said
Board is hereby authorized and empowered to invest and
reinvest any of said moneys, securities, and assets, as
well as the proceeds of any of such investments, . ...
or in home office facilities to be used in administering
the Teacher Retirement System includinq land, equipment,
and office building; ...."( Emphasis added.)
In view of the specific constitutional provision above quoted,
your first question is answered in the affirmative.
With regard to your second question, your attention is
directed to Article 2922-4.09, Vernon's Civil Statutes, which
reads, in part, as follows:
“(a) General administration of and responsibility
for proper operation of the Retirement System in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter are
vested in a State Board of Trustees ....“
In response to a similar question, this office held in Attorney
General's Opinion C-705 (1966) that the building constructed
by the Texas Employees Retirement System was not subject to the
control of the State Board of Control for the reason that such
building was constructed with trust funds and assumed the same
chracter as those funds. As a public trust, such structure was
not subject to the authority vested in the State Board of Control
by Article 665, Vernon's Civil Statutes. It is our opinion
that the legal nature of the Employees Retirement System and the
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Hon. Frank M. Jackson, page 3 (M-644)
Teachers Retirement System is so legally similar in this respect
that the holding expressed in Attorney General's Opinion C-705
controls the present question. Accordingly, our opinion is that
the State Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System
has authority to manage and control buildings and grounds purchased
or built with funds of the Teacher Retirement System.
In view of our affirmative answer to your second question,
your third question is not answered.
Article 2922.101, et seq., Vernon's.Civil Statutes, and
Attorney General's Opinion C-705, supra, provide ample basis
for our conclusion that the State Board of Trustees of the Teacher
Retirement System has the necessary.authority to pay expenses
incurred for operating, maintaining, repairing and improving
the buildings and grounds described in Question No. 1. Accordingly,
your fourth question is answered in the affirmative.
SUMMARY
The State Board of Trustees of the Teacher
Retirement System has authority to invest trust
funds of the Teacher Retirement System in home
office facilities, including land, equipment and
office building to be used in administering the
System.
The State Board of Trustees of the Teacher
Retirement System has authority to manage and control
the buildings and grounds purchased or built with
these funds of the Teacher Retirement System.
The State Board of Trustees of the Teacher
Retirement System has authority to pay expenses
incurred for operating, maintaining, repairing and
improvingthe buildings and grounds so purchased.
/-I
y General of Texas
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-. .
Hon. Frank M. Jackson, page 4 (M-644)
Prepared by Malcolm L. Quick
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman
W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
Wayne R. Rodgers
Earl Hines
Jerry Roberts
Brandon Bickett
MEADE F. GRIFFIN
Staff Legal Assistant
ALFRED WALKER
Executive Assistant
NOLA WHITE
First Assistant
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