S.B. No. 21
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the State Cemetery.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 4.10, State Purchasing and General
1-4 Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-5 amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and by adding
1-6 Subsections (a-1) and (b-1) to read as follows:
1-7 (a-1) In addition to the property described as Lot No. 5,
1-8 Division B, City of Austin, Travis County, Texas, the following
1-9 property is dedicated for cemetery purposes as part of the State
1-10 Cemetery:
1-11 BEING APPROXIMATELY 50.00 ACRES OF LAND OUT OF AND A PORTION OF THE
1-12 FOLLOWING DESCRIBED TRACT OF LAND. 75.688 RECORD ACRES OF LAND OUT
1-13 OF THE GEORGE W. SPEAR SURVEY IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN, TRAVIS COUNTY,
1-14 TEXAS, DESCRIBED BY DEED TO THE STATE OF TEXAS AS RECORDED IN
1-15 VOLUME 76, PAGE 225, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS,
1-16 SAID 75.688 ACRE TRACT OF LAND BEING MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS
1-17 FOLLOWS:
1-18 1) Bounded on the west by Bull Creek Road.
1-19 2) Bounded on the north by the following subdivisions in the
1-20 City of Austin, Texas,
1-21 A) Shoal Village Section 2, as recorded in Plat Book
1-22 5, Page 150 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
1-23 B) Shoal Village Section 3, as recorded in Plat Book
1-24 6, Page 71, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-1 C) Shoal Village Section 5, as recorded in Plat Book
2-2 6, Page 72, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-3 D) Shoal Village Section 6, as recorded in Plat Book
2-4 7, Page 7, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-5 E) Shoal Village Section 7, as recorded in Plat Book
2-6 14, Page 80 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-7 F) Oak Haven Section 3, as recorded in Plat Book 11,
2-8 Page 40, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas.
2-9 3) Bounded on the east by the centerline of Shoal Creek,
2-10 4) Bounded along the south by Ridgelea, a subdivision of
2-11 record in the City of Austin, Texas, as recorded in Plat Book 4,
2-12 Page 258 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas.
2-13 (b) The persons eligible for burial in the State Cemetery
2-14 are as follows:
2-15 (1) present and former members of the Texas
2-16 Legislature;
2-17 (2) present and former elective state officials;
2-18 (3) present and former state officials who have been
2-19 appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate and who have
2-20 served at least 12 years in the office to which appointed;
2-21 (4) persons specified by a governor's proclamation,
2-22 subject to review and approval by the Texas Historical Commission
2-23 under Subsection (b-1) of this section; <and>
2-24 (5) persons specified in a concurrent resolution
2-25 adopted by the legislature, subject to review and approval by the
2-26 Texas Historical Commission under Subsection (b-1) of this section;
2-27 and
3-1 (6) persons specified by order of the Texas Historical
3-2 Commission under Subsection (b-1) of this section.
3-3 (b-1) The Texas Historical Commission shall review
3-4 proclamations under Subsection (b)(4) of this section and
3-5 resolutions under Subsection (b)(5) of this section. A person
3-6 specified in a proclamation or resolution is eligible for burial in
3-7 the State Cemetery only if the commission, following its review,
3-8 finds that the person specified made a significant contribution to
3-9 Texas history and only if based on that finding the Texas
3-10 Historical Commission approves the person's burial in the cemetery.
3-11 The Texas Historical Commission may by order authorize a burial
3-12 under Subsection (b)(6) of this section only during a period in
3-13 which the legislature is not convened in regular or special session
3-14 and only if the commission finds that the person made a significant
3-15 contribution to Texas history.
3-16 (c) Grave spaces shall be allotted for a person eligible for
3-17 burial and for his or her spouse, together with his or her
3-18 unmarried child or children, which child or children shall be
3-19 buried alongside his, her, or their parent or parents, provided
3-20 that such child on the effective date of this Act or at the time of
3-21 his or her death is a resident in any state eleemosynary
3-22 institution. Children other than those hereinabove made eligible
3-23 for burial may not be included. The size of a grave plot may not
3-24 be longer than eight feet nor wider than three <five> feet times
3-25 the number of persons of one family authorized hereunder to be
3-26 buried alongside one another.
3-27 SECTION 2. (a) The Texas Historical Commission shall
4-1 undertake a study of the persons eligible under law for burial in
4-2 the State Cemetery and make recommendations to the 75th Legislature
4-3 concerning the persons eligible. The commission shall consider in
4-4 particular whether persons who have made significant contributions
4-5 to Texas history in the fields of business, literature, arts, or
4-6 science should be included in the list of eligible persons.
4-7 (b) This section expires January 1, 1997.
4-8 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Subdivision
4-9 (3), Subsection (b), Section 4.10, State Purchasing and General
4-10 Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
4-11 concerning the eligibility for burial in the State Cemetery of
4-12 present and former appointed state officials, does not apply to
4-13 persons who were eligible before the effective date of this Act and
4-14 who have made reservations for that purpose with the State
4-15 Purchasing and General Services Commission. Those persons remain
4-16 eligible under the prior law, and the prior law is continued in
4-17 effect for that purpose.
4-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-24 passage, and it is so enacted.