Texas. State Board of Control

The Texas State Board of Control was created in 1919 by the Thirty-sixth Texas Legislature (Senate Bill 147, Regular Session), becoming operational on January 1, 1920. The Board was composed of three members, serving six-year overlapping terms, appointed by the Governor with concurrence of the Senate. The Board elected a chair. The legislation which created the Board also abolished several agencies and offices, transferring their duties to the Board of Control. Offices abolished were the State Expert Printer, State Board of Public Printing, State Purchasing Agent, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, State Inspector of Masonry, and the Boards of Managers of each of the state eleemosynary institutions.

The Board of Control had numerous responsibilities. The Board served as the purchasing agent for state departments, institutions, and agencies, approving requisition orders, purchasing supplies, contracting for printing, and transferring supplies between agencies, etc. The Board also had control and supervision of the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanatoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, and the State Cemetery. It established rules and regulations for the state eleemosynary institutions and established hospital districts for the state hospitals. Additionally, the Board had joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical state parks (including San Jacinto, Goliad, and Fannin State Parks); and had charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other State office buildings and their adjoining grounds. In this capacity the Board contracted for all construction, repairs, and improvements made for the eleemosynary institutions and other state agencies; designed and prepared the plans and specifications used in construction projects and machinery and equipment repairs; leased public grounds; rented offices and buildings when needed for state agencies; sold property of the state when no longer needed; and prepared the biennial appropriation budget for the state. These were the primary functions of the Board. Additional duties included administering child welfare activities; supervising the printing and manufacture of cigarette tax stamps; providing photostat (and later microfilm) services and typewriter repair services to state agencies; and maintaining the Bureau of Records as a temporary depository for the permanent records of the state. The Texas Relief Commission was added to the Board in 1934 (House Bill 1, 43rd Legislature, 3rd Called Session) and the Old Age Assistance Commission was added in 1936 (House Bill 8, 44th Legislature, 3rd Called Session). In some instances Board chairmen or members were appointed to or served on other state boards or commissions. In the 1930s the Chairman of the Board, Claude Teer, was appointed to the Locating and Building Board of the State Tuberculosis Sanatorium for Negroes (upon completion, this sanatorium was turned over to the Board of Control). In the 1940s, Hall Logan, Board member and later Board chairman, also served as the Acting Director of the Postwar Economic Planning Commission.

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