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. | ||
