Bill Text: TX HCR26 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Authorizing the State Preservation Board, subject to state law and rules of the board, to approve the construction of a monument honoring victims of communism at the State Capitol Complex, at a site outside of the historic Capitol grounds.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 4-2)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-13 - Signed by the Governor [HCR26 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HCR26-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Oliverson (Senate Sponsor - Creighton) H.C.R. No. 26
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2023;
May 12, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
Commerce; May 21, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 21, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE VOTE
YeaNayAbsentPNV
SchwertnerX
KingX
BirdwellX
CampbellX
CreightonX
JohnsonX
KolkhorstX
MenéndezX
MiddletonX
NicholsX
ZaffiriniX
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Throughout history, countless lives have been lost
to oppressive communist regimes; and
WHEREAS, In 2017, November 7 was designated as a national day
of remembrance for the victims of communism; the date commemorates
the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, when
the first communist regime, led by Vladimir Lenin, initiated
decades of oppression and violence around the world; despite
promises of equality and liberation, communist dictators such as
Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceausescu,
Fidel and Raúl Castro, and the Kim dynasty of North Korea have
murdered vast numbers of people in genocidal purges, persecuted
others for speaking out, and suppressed freedom of thought,
cultural life, and self-determination movements in more than 40
nations; and
WHEREAS, Based on the theories of Karl Marx, this political
ideology has been responsible for the deaths of more than 100
million people, and it has subjected countless others to some of the
worst human rights abuses in history; as the bipartisan
U.S. Congressional Caucus for the Victims of Communism has stated,
"Marx's defenders often say he cannot be held accountable for what
communist regimes did long after his life and death, but Marxist
dictators who massacred their own people were applying communist
ideology to political practice"; and
WHEREAS, Under Chapter 443, Government Code, and rules of the
State Preservation Board, a portion of the north Capitol grounds is
available for new monuments, subject to legislative approval,
specified procedural requirements, the provision of funding from
private donors, conformity to certain size and design limitations
and parameters, and completion on a timely basis; and
WHEREAS, A memorial on the Capitol grounds would provide a
communal place for Texans to honor the legacies of those who lost
their lives to communism; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby authorize the State Preservation Board, subject to state law
and rules of the board, to approve the construction of a monument
honoring victims of communism at the State Capitol Complex, at a
site outside of the historic Capitol grounds; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward an
official copy of this resolution to the executive director of the
State Preservation Board.
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