S.B. No. 1177
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a task force to evaluate
state-owned artifact collections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. DEFINITION. In this Act, "task force" means the
task force established under Section 2 of this Act.
SECTION 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE. A task force is
established to manage artifact collections owned by this state.
SECTION 3. TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP. (a) The task force is
composed of representatives of the:
(1) Texas Historical Commission;
(2) General Land Office;
(3) Texas State Library and Archives Commission;
(4) Parks and Wildlife Department;
(5) State Preservation Board; and
(6) Texas Facilities Commission.
(b) The executive director of each state agency represented
on the task force shall appoint an employee of the agency to serve
as the agency's representative on the task force not later than
October 1, 2021.
(c) The member representing the Texas Facilities Commission
must have engineering and architectural expertise.
SECTION 4. REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES. A member of the task
force is not entitled to compensation for service on the task force
but is entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses incurred by
the member while conducting the business of the task force as
provided by the General Appropriations Act.
SECTION 5. DUTIES OF TASK FORCE. For each state agency
represented on the task force, the task force shall:
(1) evaluate the need for a separate collections
facility for the agency and compare use of a separate collection
facility to a secure centrally located joint collections facility
with a processing laboratory for repair, cleaning, re-housing, and
light conservation of state artifacts, including cost estimates for
maintaining a separate collections facility for each agency
compared to a joint collections facility;
(2) analyze the storage capacity for the agency's
collections to determine whether the agency's collections facility
is adequate for the agency's successful stewardship of its
collections over the next five years and 10 years;
(3) review the option of establishing a
disaster-secure collections facility with separate storage areas
for each agency;
(4) review the recommendations in the Texas Historical
Commission's December 2018 response to the Sunset Advisory
Commission decisions on creating a searchable public catalog of
state-owned collections to determine cost estimates for
implementing the recommendations and a process for implementing the
recommendations; and
(5) assess any unmet need of the agency regarding
state-owned collections as determined by the task force.
SECTION 6. REPORT. Not later than December 1, 2022, the
task force shall report the task force's findings and
determinations under Section 5 of this Act to the governor,
lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and
standing committees of each house of the legislature with primary
jurisdiction over the history and culture of this state.
SECTION 7. EXPIRATION. The task force is abolished and this
Act expires September 1, 2023.
SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect September
1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1177 passed the Senate on
April 29, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1177 passed the House on
May 23, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 118, Nays 27, two
present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor