By Wilson H.B. No. 3690
76R6306 MCK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the preservation, operation, and maintenance of
1-3 historical resources and the powers and duties of the Texas
1-4 Historical Commission.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Sections 442.005(i), (o), and (p), Government
1-7 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-8 (i) The commission may provide loans or matching grants to
1-9 assist the preservation of a historic structure significant in
1-10 Texas or American history, architecture, archeology, or culture.
1-11 As a condition of a loan or grant for the preservation of a
1-12 historic property, the commission may require that the recipient
1-13 provide reports and other evidence that funds are used for the
1-14 purposes of the loan or grant and provide continuing reports or
1-15 other evidence, over an appropriate period, that the property is
1-16 being preserved in a manner consistent with the terms of the loan
1-17 or grant.
1-18 (o) The commission may enter into contracts with federal,
1-19 other state, or local governmental agencies or institutions and
1-20 with qualified private institutions to carry out the purposes of
1-21 the commission [this chapter].
1-22 (p) The commission may accept a gift, grant, devise, or
1-23 bequest of money, securities, services, or property to carry out
1-24 any purpose of the commission [this chapter], including funds
2-1 raised or services provided by a volunteer or volunteer group to
2-2 promote the work of the commission. The commission may participate
2-3 in the establishment and operation of an affiliated nonprofit
2-4 organization whose purpose is to raise funds for or provide
2-5 services or other benefits to the commission, and the commission
2-6 may contract with such an organization for the performance of any
2-7 duty imposed on the commission.
2-8 SECTION 2. Sections 442.0086(a) and (e), Government Code,
2-9 are amended to read as follows:
2-10 (a) The commission shall identify, preserve, interpret, and
2-11 place monuments at sites in and outside this state that are
2-12 historically significant to this state because of:
2-13 (1) military action or service at the sites; or
2-14 (2) other significant events of a military nature at
2-15 the sites that shaped the history of this state.
2-16 (e) The commission may seek assistance from federal, other
2-17 state, and local governmental entities in carrying out the
2-18 commission's duties under this section.
2-19 SECTION 3. Chapter 443, Government Code, is amended by
2-20 adding Section 443.0081 to read as follows:
2-21 Sec. 443.0081. CONSULTATION WITH HISTORICAL COMMISSION. The
2-22 board shall regularly consult with the Texas Historical Commission
2-23 on the historic preservation aspects of the board's duties. In
2-24 particular, the board shall seek and consider the advice of the
2-25 historical commission before approving construction modifications
2-26 of the Capitol, the Capitol grounds, or the General Land Office
2-27 Building.
3-1 SECTION 4. Sections 2165.256(a), (c), (d), (e), (i), (j),
3-2 (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), (q), (r), and (s), Government Code, are
3-3 amended to read as follows:
3-4 (a) The Texas Historical Commission [State Cemetery
3-5 Committee] shall oversee all operations of the State Cemetery and
3-6 preserve the historical integrity of the cemetery, its grounds, and
3-7 related property.
3-8 (c) The historical commission [committee] shall procure and
3-9 erect at the head of each grave that does not have a permanent
3-10 monument a marble obelisk on which shall be engraved the name of
3-11 the dead buried in the grave.
3-12 (d) Persons eligible for burial in the State Cemetery are:
3-13 (1) a former member of the legislature or a member who
3-14 dies in office;
3-15 (2) a former elective state official or an elective
3-16 state official who dies in office;
3-17 (3) a former state official or a state official who
3-18 dies in office who has been appointed by the governor and confirmed
3-19 by the senate and who served at least 12 years in the office to
3-20 which appointed;
3-21 (4) a person specified by a governor's proclamation,
3-22 subject to review and approval by the historical commission
3-23 [committee] under Subsection (e);
3-24 (5) a person specified by a concurrent resolution
3-25 adopted by the legislature, subject to review and approval by the
3-26 historical commission [committee] under Subsection (e); and
3-27 (6) a person specified by order of the historical
4-1 commission [committee] under Subsection (e).
4-2 (e) The historical commission [committee] shall review
4-3 proclamations under Subsection (d)(4) and resolutions under
4-4 Subsection (d)(5). A person specified in a proclamation or
4-5 resolution is eligible for burial in the State Cemetery only if the
4-6 historical commission [committee], following its review, finds that
4-7 the person specified made a significant contribution to Texas
4-8 history and only if, based on that finding, the historical
4-9 commission [committee] approves the person's burial in the
4-10 cemetery. The historical commission [committee] may by order
4-11 authorize a burial under Subsection (d)(6) only during a period in
4-12 which the legislature is not convened in regular or special session
4-13 and only if the historical commission [committee] finds that the
4-14 person made a significant contribution to Texas history.
4-15 (i) The historical commission [committee] shall adopt rules
4-16 regulating the monuments erected in the State Cemetery.
4-17 (j) A tree, shrub, or flower may not be planted in the State
4-18 Cemetery without the historical commission's [committee's] written
4-19 permission.
4-20 (l) The historical commission [committee] shall allot and
4-21 locate the necessary number of grave plots authorized on
4-22 application made by:
4-23 (1) the person primarily eligible for burial under
4-24 Subsection (d);
4-25 (2) the person's spouse; or
4-26 (3) the executor or administrator of the person's
4-27 estate.
5-1 (m) The historical commission [committee] shall consider for
5-2 burial in the State Cemetery persons who have made significant
5-3 contributions to Texas history and culture in the following fields:
5-4 air and space, agriculture, art and design, business and labor,
5-5 city building, education, industry, justice, military affairs, law
5-6 enforcement, oil and gas, performing arts, philanthropy, ranching,
5-7 religion, science and medicine, sports, and writing.
5-8 (n) The historical commission [committee] shall consider for
5-9 reinterment in the State Cemetery persons from the following eras:
5-10 Spanish exploration and colonization, Mexican, Texas revolution,
5-11 republic and statehood, Civil War and Reconstruction, frontier,
5-12 Gilded Age, progressive, Great Depression and World War II,
5-13 postwar, and modern.
5-14 (o) The historical commission [committee] shall designate
5-15 different areas of the cemetery for burial of persons from the
5-16 fields described in Subsection (m).
5-17 (p) The historical commission [committee] shall develop
5-18 plans for obtaining land adjacent to the State Cemetery for
5-19 expansion of the cemetery.
5-20 (q) The historical commission [committee] shall actively
5-21 pursue plot reservations from persons eligible for burial in the
5-22 State Cemetery.
5-23 (r) The historical commission [committee] shall encourage
5-24 members of the legislature to advise constituents who are eligible
5-25 for burial in the State Cemetery.
5-26 (s) The historical commission [committee] may accept a gift,
5-27 grant, or bequest of money, securities, services, or property to
6-1 carry out any purpose of the historical commission [committee],
6-2 including funds raised or services provided by a volunteer or
6-3 volunteer group to promote the work of the historical commission
6-4 [committee]. The historical commission [committee] may
6-5 participate in the establishment and operation of an affiliated
6-6 nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise funds for or
6-7 provide services or other benefits to the historical commission
6-8 [committee], and the historical commission [committee] may contract
6-9 with such an organization for the performance of such activities.
6-10 SECTION 5. Section 2165.2561, Government Code, is repealed.
6-11 SECTION 6. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-12 (b) On the effective date of this Act, the State Cemetery
6-13 Committee is abolished. On that date, the powers, duties,
6-14 obligations, rights, contracts, records, personnel, property, and
6-15 unspent and unobligated appropriations and other funds of the State
6-16 Cemetery Committee are transferred to the Texas Historical
6-17 Commission. A rule, form, policy, or order of the State Cemetery
6-18 Committee is continued in effect as a rule, form, policy, or order
6-19 of the Texas Historical Commission until superseded by a rule or
6-20 other appropriate action of the commission.
6-21 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
6-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.