ATTORNEY GENERAL
Under provisions set out in the Texas Constitution, the Texas Government Code, 
Title 4,  402.042 and numerous statutes, the attorney general is authorized to 
write advisory opinions for state and local officials. These advisory opinions 
are requested by agencies or officials when they are confronted with unique or 
unusually difficult legal questions. The attorney general also determines, under 
authority of the Texas Open Records Act, whether information requested for 
release from governmental agencies may be held from public disclosure. Requests 
for opinions, opinions, and open record decisions are summarized for publication 
in the Texas Register. The Attorney General responds to many requests for 
opinions and open records decisions with letter opinions. A letter opinion has 
the same force and effect as a formal Attorney General Opinion, and represents 
the opinion of the Attorney General unless and until it is modified or overruled 
by a subsequent letter opinion, a formal Attorney General Opinion, or a decision 
of a court of record. To request copies of opinions, phone (512) 462-0011. To 
inquire about pending requests for opinions, phone (512) 463-2110.

Letter Opinions

LO-#98-016. Request from the Honorable John
 Vance, Dallas County District Attorney, Administration Building, 411 Elm
 Street, Dallas, Texas, 75202, regarding instruments that the county clerk
 must accept for filing and recording (RQ-950).


SUMMARY. The county clerk has a ministerial
 duty to accept a document for filing and recording if a statute authorizes,
 requires or permits it to be filed in the clerk's office, and if it is regular
 on its face. If no statute authorizes, requires, or permits a document to
 be filed in the clerk's office, he may not accept it for filing. When the
 county clerk believes that a previously filed document or a document presented
 for filing is fraudulent within Government Code chapter 51, subchapter J,
 he is to provide the notice required by that provision.


LO-#98-017. Request from the Honorable Garry
 Mauro, Commissioner, Texas General Land Office, Stephen F. Austin Building,
 1700 North Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, 78701-1495, regarding construction
 of legislation extending date on which public land sold to City of Corpus
 Christi would revert to the state (ID# 39575).


SUMMARY. Article 5421k-3, V.T.C.S., as adopted
 in 1961, validated the grant to Corpus Christi of certain submerged lands,
 subject to the condition that the city improve the land by raising or filling
 it to a height of at least three feet above the level of mean high tide and
 providing that title to any portion of the land not so improved before July
 1, 1965, shall revert to the state. A 1965 amendment to article 5421k-3,
 V.T.C.S., that changed the reverter date to July 1, 1971, became effective
 August 30, 1965. We are unable to determine whether title to the land was
 vested in the state as of July 1, 1965, without any action on the part of
 the state, nor are we able to determine the effect of the 1965 amendment.

LO-#98-018. Request from Mr. Steve Robinson,
 Executive Director, Texas Youth Commission, P.O. Box 4260, Austin, Texas,
 78765, regarding whether Government Code section 497.010, which criminalizes
 the sale of inmate-made products on the open market, applies to the Texas
 Youth Commission (RQ-1009).


SUMMARY. Section 497.010 of the Government
 Code, which criminalizes the sale of inmate-made articles and products on
 the open market, applies to articles and products manufactured by youth in
 Texas Youth Commission. Section 497.010 does not apply to articles and products
 made in vocational shop projects by youth in Texas Youth Commission 
institutions.

TRD-9803944