Bill Text: TX HB1836 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the preservation, maintenance, and restoration of the Alamo Cenotaph; granting the power of eminent domain.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 18-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-02 - Left pending in committee [HB1836 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB1836-Introduced.html
86R6883 YDB-D | ||
By: Biedermann | H.B. No. 1836 |
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relating to the preservation, maintenance, and restoration of the | ||
Alamo Cenotaph; granting the power of eminent domain. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 31, Natural Resources | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 31.4515 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 31.4515. PRESERVATION, MAINTENANCE, AND RESTORATION | ||
OF ALAMO CENOTAPH. (a) The legislature finds that: | ||
(1) as part of the Texas Centennial celebration, the | ||
44th Legislature: | ||
(A) appropriated money to create and conduct | ||
celebrations commemorating the heroic period of early Texas history | ||
and celebrating a century of independence and progress for Texas as | ||
a republic and state; and | ||
(B) created a Commission of Control for Texas | ||
Centennial celebrations to approve allocations of state | ||
appropriated money and to apply for federal money for the | ||
centennial celebrations to be spent under the direction and control | ||
of the commission; | ||
(2) from federal money granted to the state, the | ||
Commission of Control commissioned construction of the Alamo | ||
Cenotaph for the benefit of the state and the public to honor heroes | ||
of the Alamo and other patriotic Texans; and | ||
(3) on completion of the Alamo Cenotaph and its | ||
placement on the north plot of the Alamo Plaza, title to the | ||
cenotaph passed to the City of San Antonio conditioned on the city | ||
using the cenotaph as a memorial in honor of the heroes of the Alamo | ||
and only for that purpose. | ||
(b) The land office has the power of eminent domain to | ||
acquire in the manner provided by Chapter 21, Property Code, any | ||
property necessary to preserve, maintain, and restore the Alamo | ||
Cenotaph and to carry out the purposes of this section, including | ||
the acquisition of the cenotaph and the land immediately underneath | ||
and adjacent to the cenotaph. | ||
(c) Subject to Subsection (e), the land office is | ||
responsible for the preservation, maintenance, and restoration of | ||
the Alamo Cenotaph and has jurisdiction over the land immediately | ||
underneath and adjacent to the cenotaph. The land office shall | ||
determine and officially designate a reasonable amount of land as | ||
the land immediately underneath and adjacent to the cenotaph for | ||
purposes of this section. | ||
(d) Any power or duty related to the Alamo Cenotaph formerly | ||
vested in another state agency or local governmental entity, | ||
including the City of San Antonio, is vested solely in the land | ||
office in accordance with this section. | ||
(e) The governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house | ||
of representatives, and land commissioner must unanimously approve | ||
all major projects related to the preservation, maintenance, and | ||
restoration of the Alamo Cenotaph, including any project that | ||
requires movement of the cenotaph from its original location. The | ||
cenotaph may not be moved to a location outside of the area that | ||
comprised the original Alamo Plaza. | ||
(f) A local governmental entity may not exercise any control | ||
over the Alamo Cenotaph and the land immediately underneath and | ||
adjacent to the cenotaph or move the cenotaph from its original | ||
location in the Alamo Plaza. | ||
(g) The land office shall allow the descendants of the | ||
heroes of the Alamo access to the Alamo Cenotaph each year on March | ||
6. | ||
(h) A writ of mandamus and any other legal and equitable | ||
remedy is available to a party in interest to require the land | ||
office, a local governmental entity, and any other party to comply | ||
with this section. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |