BILL ANALYSIS
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AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
H.B. 2968 amends current law relating to the preservation of the Alamo complex and surrounding area and to the Alamo Preservation Advisory Board.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter I, Chapter 31, Natural Resources Code, by adding Section 31.450, as follows:
Sec. 31.450. FINDINGS; MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. (a) Provides that the legislature finds that:
(1) the Alamo has played an important role in the history of this state and continues to be a symbol of liberty and freedom for this state;
(2) this state wants to honor the individuals whose lives were lost at the Alamo;
(3) the entire history of the Alamo, from the time the Alamo was established as a mission until the present, should be recognized; and
(4) the Alamo is a world-class destination that provides a place of remembrance and education.
(b) Requires the Texas General Land Office (land office) to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the City of San Antonio to coordinate the planning and development of improvements to the Alamo complex and the area immediately surrounding the complex.
SECTION 2. Amends Sections 31.455(a) and (b), Natural Resources Code, as follows:
(a) Authorizes the land office to establish an Alamo Preservation Advisory Board to provide advice, proposals, and recommendations to promote the development of a world-class site to educate visitors on the history and importance of the Alamo in this state's fight for independence and to honor the people who lost their lives at the Alamo and provide educational and museum facilities, rather than promote and provide, for the preservation, perpetuation, appropriate publication, and display of manuscripts, books, relics, pictures, oral histories, and all other items and information related to the history of the Alamo complex and of this state that preserve the historical character of the Alamo shrine. Makes nonsubstantive changes.
(b) Provides that the advisory board is composed of:
(1) and (2) Makes no change to these subdivisions;
(3) a designee appointed by the commissioner, rather than the president general of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas;
(4) a representative of the Alamo Endowment, appointed by the commissioner, rather than the current Alamo chairperson of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas;
(5) the director of the Alamo, rather than the immediate past Alamo chairperson of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas;
(6) and (7) Makes no change to these subdivisions;
(8) a designee appointed by the county judge of Bexar County, rather than the president of the Bexar County Historical Commission; and
(9) a designee appointed by the mayor of the City of San Antonio, rather than one representative who serves as a member of the City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation.
SECTION 3. (a) Provides that the term of a member serving on the Alamo Preservation Advisory Board immediately before the effective date of this Act whose position on the board is abolished by the changes in law made by this Act expires on the effective date of this Act.
(b) Requires each appointing official, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, to appoint members to the Alamo Preservation Advisory Board as required by Section 31.455 (Alamo Preservation Advisory Board), Natural Resources Code, as amended by this Act.
(c) Requires the land office, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the City of San Antonio as required by Section 31.450(b), Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 2015.