Sec. 481.021. GENERAL POWERS OF OFFICE. (a) The office may:

(1) adopt and enforce rules necessary to carry out this chapter;

(2) adopt and use an official seal;

(3) solicit and accept gifts, grants, or loans from and contract with any entity;

(4) acquire and convey property or an interest in property;

(5) procure insurance and pay premiums on insurance of any type, in accounts, and from insurers as the office considers necessary and advisable to accomplish any of the office's purposes;

(6) hold patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other evidence of protection or exclusivity issued under the laws of the United States, any state, or any nation and may enter into license agreements with any third parties for the receipt of fees, royalties, or other monetary or nonmonetary value;

(7) sell advertisements in any medium; and

(8) exercise any other power necessary to carry out this chapter.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, money paid to the office under this chapter shall be deposited in the state treasury.

(c) The office shall deposit contributions from private sources in a separate fund kept and held in escrow and in trust by the comptroller for and on behalf of the office as funds held outside the treasury under Section 404.073, and the money contributed shall be used to carry out the purposes of the office and, to the extent possible, the purposes specified by the donors. The comptroller may invest and reinvest the money, pending its use, in the fund in investments authorized by law for state funds that the comptroller considers appropriate.

Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 4, Sec. 3.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 602, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 2nd C.S., ch. 11, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 986, Sec. 10, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1423, Sec. 8.23, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 814, Sec. 1.17, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.