78R15366 CLE-D


By:  Gallego                                                    H.C.R. No. 208



HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Big Bend National Park was officially established on 
June 12, 1944, six months after Texas Governor Coke Stevenson 
signed a deed of cession giving the National Park Service (NPS), 
United States Department of the Interior, exclusive jurisdiction 
over the park; and
	WHEREAS, Exclusive jurisdiction, whereby the federal 
government possesses all of the authority of the state, was ceded by 
the State of Texas at the request of then-Secretary of the Interior 
Harold Ickes; and
	WHEREAS, The NPS also has jurisdiction over a 196-mile 
section of the Rio Grande designated by congress as part of the 
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and administered by Big Bend 
National Park; and
	WHEREAS, The General Authorities Act of 1976 required the NPS 
to seek to acquire concurrent legislative jurisdiction for all 
units of the National Park System to allow the United States and the 
states to exercise joint regulatory authority; and
	WHEREAS, Concurrent legislative jurisdiction provides for 
more efficient conduct of state and federal law enforcement 
functions, improving visitor safety and resource protection at 
national parks; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby respectfully request the National Park Service, United 
States Department of the Interior, to cede exclusive jurisdiction 
over Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River 
to the State of Texas; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the legislature also respectfully request the 
governor of the State of Texas, simultaneously with the acceptance 
of exclusive jurisdiction, to cede concurrent legislative 
jurisdiction to the National Park Service for Big Bend National 
Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the secretary of the United States 
Department of the Interior, director of the National Park Service, 
and governor of the State of Texas with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered into the record as a memorial to 
the United States Department of the Interior, National Park 
Service, and Texas governor.