Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1059 adds a Government Code chapter governing the legislature's adoption, by concurrent resolution of the senate and house of representatives, of state symbol and place designations. It does not affect designations made by statute or designations made by resolution before the bill's effective date. A resolution proposing either type of designation must be referred to and reported from committee in the same manner as a bill. For a state symbol the legislature must specify its cultural or historical significance, and for a place designation it must be presented with information as to that significance and with certain documentation showing local civic support for the designation. The bill prohibits designating a commercial product, or an individual, event, or place, as a state symbol. It prohibits assigning the same place designation to more than one event or location or assigning multiple place designations to the same county, municipality, or location, although there may be multiple place designations inside a single county. A place designation expires after 10 years, but redesignations may occur at any time. The bill requires the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to prepare and make publicly available a complete list of every state symbol and place designation, including those adopted under the new chapter.