75R11510 MCK-D
By Hunter, Wise H.B. No. 840
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 840:
By Hunter C.S.H.B. No. 840
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the State Cemetery.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2165.256, Government Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 2165.256. STATE CEMETERY AND OTHER BURIAL GROUNDS.
1-7 (a) The Texas Historical Commission [commission] shall oversee all
1-8 operations of the State Cemetery[:]
1-9 [(1) control, manage, and beautify the grounds of the
1-10 State Cemetery;]
1-11 [(2) preserve the grounds of the cemetery and related
1-12 property; and]
1-13 [(3) protect the property from depreciation and
1-14 injury].
1-15 (b) In addition to the property described as Lot No. 5,
1-16 Division B, City of Austin, Travis County, Texas, the following
1-17 property is dedicated for cemetery purposes as part of the State
1-18 Cemetery: BEING APPROXIMATELY 50.00 ACRES OF LAND OUT OF AND A
1-19 PORTION OF THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBED TRACT OF LAND. 75.688 RECORD
1-20 ACRES OF LAND OUT OF THE GEORGE W. SPEAR SURVEY IN THE CITY OF
1-21 AUSTIN, TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS, DESCRIBED BY DEED TO THE STATE OF
1-22 TEXAS AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 76, PAGE 225, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF
1-23 TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS, SAID 75.688 ACRE TRACT OF LAND BEING MORE
1-24 PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:
2-1 (1) Bounded on the west by Bull Creek Road.
2-2 (2) Bounded on the north by the following subdivisions
2-3 in the City of Austin, Texas,
2-4 (A) Shoal Village Section 2, as recorded in Plat
2-5 Book 5, Page 150 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-6 (B) Shoal Village Section 3, as recorded in Plat
2-7 Book 6, Page 71, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-8 (C) Shoal Village Section 5, as recorded in Plat
2-9 Book 6, Page 72, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-10 (D) Shoal Village Section 6, as recorded in Plat
2-11 Book 7, Page 7, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-12 (E) Shoal Village Section 7, as recorded in Plat
2-13 Book 14, Page 80 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas,
2-14 (F) Oak Haven Section 3, as recorded in Plat
2-15 Book 11, Page 40, of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas.
2-16 (3) Bounded on the east by the centerline of Shoal
2-17 Creek,
2-18 (4) Bounded along the south by Ridgelea, a subdivision
2-19 of record in the City of Austin, Texas, as recorded in Plat Book 4,
2-20 Page 258 of the Plat Records of Travis County, Texas.
2-21 (c) The historical commission shall procure and erect at the
2-22 head of each grave that does not have a permanent monument a marble
2-23 obelisk on which shall be engraved the name of the dead buried in
2-24 the grave.
2-25 (d) [(c)] Persons eligible for burial in the State Cemetery
2-26 are:
2-27 (1) a former member of the legislature or a member who
3-1 dies in office;
3-2 (2) a former elective state official or an elective
3-3 state official who dies in office;
3-4 (3) a former state official or a state official who
3-5 dies in office who has been appointed by the governor and confirmed
3-6 by the senate and who served at least 12 years in the office to
3-7 which appointed;
3-8 (4) a person specified by a governor's proclamation;
3-9 [and]
3-10 (5) a person specified by a concurrent resolution
3-11 adopted by the legislature; and
3-12 (6) a person specified by order of the historical
3-13 commission under Subsection (e).
3-14 (e) The historical commission may by order authorize a
3-15 burial under Subsection (d)(6) only during a period in which the
3-16 legislature is not convened in regular or special session and only
3-17 if the historical commission finds that the person made a
3-18 significant contribution to Texas history.
3-19 (f) [(d)] Grave spaces are allotted for:
3-20 (1) a person eligible for burial under Subsection (d)
3-21 [(c)];
3-22 (2) the person's spouse; and
3-23 (3) the person's unmarried child, if the child, on
3-24 September 1, 1979, or at the time of the child's death, is a
3-25 resident in a state [eleemosynary] institution.
3-26 (g) [(e)] A child eligible for burial under Subsection (f)
3-27 [(d)](3) must be buried alongside the child's parent or parents.
4-1 (h) [(f)] A grave plot may not be longer than eight feet nor
4-2 wider than three [five] feet times the number of persons of one
4-3 family authorized to be buried alongside one another.
4-4 (i) [(g)] The historical commission shall adopt rules
4-5 regulating the monuments erected in the State Cemetery [A monument
4-6 or statue may not be erected that is taller than a monument or
4-7 statue that existed in the State Cemetery on September 1, 1979].
4-8 (j) [(h)] A tree, shrub, or flower may not be planted in the
4-9 State Cemetery without the historical commission's written
4-10 permission.
4-11 (k) [(i)] A person may be buried on state property only in
4-12 the State Cemetery or in a cemetery maintained by a state
4-13 [eleemosynary] institution. Other state property, including the
4-14 State Capitol grounds, may not be used as a burial site.
4-15 (l) [(j)] The historical commission shall allot and locate
4-16 the necessary number of grave plots authorized on application made
4-17 by:
4-18 (1) the person primarily eligible for burial under
4-19 Subsection (d) [(c)];
4-20 (2) the person's spouse; or
4-21 (3) the executor or administrator of the person's
4-22 estate.
4-23 (m) The historical commission shall consider for burial in
4-24 the State Cemetery persons who have made significant contributions
4-25 to Texas history and culture in the following fields: air and
4-26 space, agriculture, art and design, business and labor, city
4-27 building, education, industry, justice, oil and gas, performing
5-1 arts, philanthropy, ranching, religion, science and medicine,
5-2 sports, and writing.
5-3 (n) The historical commission shall consider for reinterment
5-4 in the State Cemetery persons from the following eras: Spanish
5-5 exploration and colonization, Mexican, Texas revolution, republic
5-6 and statehood, Civil War and Reconstruction, frontier, Gilded Age,
5-7 progressive, Great Depression and World War II, postwar, and
5-8 modern.
5-9 (o) The historical commission shall designate different
5-10 areas of the cemetery for burial of persons from the fields
5-11 described in Subsection (m).
5-12 (p) The historical commission shall develop plans for
5-13 obtaining land adjacent to the State Cemetery for expansion of the
5-14 cemetery.
5-15 (q) The historical commission shall actively pursue plot
5-16 reservations from persons eligible for burial in the State
5-17 Cemetery.
5-18 (r) The historical commission shall encourage members of the
5-19 legislature to advise constituents who are eligible for burial in
5-20 the State Cemetery.
5-21 (s) At the direction of the historical commission, the
5-22 General Services Commission or Parks and Wildlife Department shall
5-23 spend money appropriated to or budgeted by the agency for State
5-24 Cemetery purposes.
5-25 (t) Funds appropriated to the General Services Commission or
5-26 Parks and Wildlife Department may be transferred by interagency
5-27 contract to perform, at the direction of the historical commission,
6-1 an act related to the State Cemetery.
6-2 (u) The historical commission may adopt rules as necessary
6-3 for the administration of the State Cemetery.
6-4 SECTION 2. (a) In addition to the substantive changes made
6-5 by this Act, this Act conforms Section 2165.256, Government Code,
6-6 to Section 1, Chapter 264, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
6-7 Session, 1995.
6-8 (b) Section 1, Chapter 264, Acts of the 74th Legislature,
6-9 Regular Session, 1995, is repealed.
6-10 (c) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
6-11 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
6-12 relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
6-13 codes.
6-14 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-15 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.