Sec. 2165.256. STATE CEMETERY AND OTHER BURIAL GROUNDS. (a) In this section:

(1) "Board" means the State Preservation Board.

(2) "Committee" means the State Cemetery Committee.

(a-1) The board, in cooperation with the committee, shall govern and provide oversight, adopt rules and policies, and provide for the operation of the State Cemetery.

(b) Repealed by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 932 , Sec. 5(1), eff. September 1, 2015.

(b-1) Repealed by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 932 , Sec. 5(1), eff. September 1, 2015.

(c) The committee shall procure and erect at the head of each grave that does not have a permanent monument a marble obelisk on which shall be engraved the name of the dead buried in the grave.

(d) Persons eligible for burial in the State Cemetery are:

(1) a former member of the legislature or a member who dies in office;

(2) a former elective state official or an elective state official who dies in office;

(3) a former state official or a state official who dies in office who has been appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate and who served at least 10 years in the office to which appointed;

(4) a person specified by a governor's proclamation, subject to review and approval by the committee under Subsection (e);

(5) a person specified by a concurrent resolution adopted by the legislature, subject to review and approval by the committee under Subsection (e); and

(6) a person specified by order of the committee under Subsection (e).

(e) The committee shall review the names of state officials presented to the committee for consideration under Subsection (d)(3), in proclamations under Subsection (d)(4), and in resolutions under Subsection (d)(5). A person whose name is presented to the committee or who is specified in a proclamation or resolution is eligible for burial in the State Cemetery only if the committee, following its review, finds that the person specified made a significant contribution to Texas history and only if, based on that finding, the committee approves the person's burial in the cemetery. The committee may by order authorize a burial under Subsection (d)(6) only if the committee finds that the person made a significant contribution to Texas history, which may include a person who served this state through public administration or governmental service.

(f) Grave spaces are allotted for:

(1) a person who is eligible or who clearly will be eligible for burial under Subsection (d);

(2) the person's spouse; and

(3) the person's unmarried child of any age, if the child, on September 1, 1979, or at the time of the child's death, because of a long-standing physical or mental condition that was manifest during the lifetime of one of the child's parents, is dependent on another for care or support.

(g) A child eligible for burial under Subsection (f)(3) must be buried alongside the child's parent or parents.

(h) A grave plot may not be longer than eight feet nor wider than three feet times the number of persons of one family authorized to be buried alongside one another.

(i) The board, in collaboration with the committee, shall adopt rules regulating the monuments erected in the State Cemetery.

(j) A tree, shrub, or flower may not be planted in the State Cemetery without the committee's written permission.

(k) A person may be buried on state property only in the State Cemetery or in a cemetery maintained by a state eleemosynary institution. Other state property, including the State Capitol grounds, may not be used as a burial site.

(l) The committee shall allot and locate the necessary number of grave plots authorized on application made by:

(1) the person primarily eligible for burial under Subsection (d);

(2) the person's spouse; or

(3) the executor or administrator of the person's estate.

(m) The committee shall consider for burial in the State Cemetery persons who have made significant contributions to Texas history and culture in the following fields: air and space, agriculture, art and design, business and labor, city building, education, governmental service, industry, justice, military affairs, law enforcement, oil and gas, performing arts, philanthropy, public administration, ranching, religion, science and medicine, sports, and writing.

(n) The committee shall consider for reinterment in the State Cemetery persons from the following eras: Spanish exploration and colonization, Mexican, Texas revolution, republic and statehood, Civil War and Reconstruction, frontier, Gilded Age, progressive, Great Depression and World War II, postwar, and modern.

(o) The committee shall designate different areas of the cemetery for burial of persons from the fields described in Subsection (m).

(p) The committee shall develop plans for obtaining land adjacent to the State Cemetery for expansion of the cemetery.

(q) The committee shall actively pursue plot reservations from persons eligible for burial in the State Cemetery.

(r) Repealed by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 932 , Sec. 5(1), eff. September 1, 2015.

(s) The committee may accept a gift, grant, or bequest of money, securities, services, or property to carry out any purpose of the committee, including funds raised or services provided by a volunteer or volunteer group to promote the work of the committee. The committee may participate in the establishment and operation of an affiliated nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise funds for or provide services or other benefits to the committee, and the committee may contract with such an organization for the performance of such activities.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 41, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 17.05(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 264, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 102, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1422, Sec. 8.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 684, Sec. 1, eff. June 20, 2003.

Amended by:

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 645 (H.B. 2900), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2005.

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1243 (S.B. 1871), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2013.

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 932 (H.B. 2206), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2015.

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 932 (H.B. 2206), Sec. 5(1), eff. September 1, 2015.