Texas Bills Explained

2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

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2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB1397

Effective September 1, 2025, HB1397 assigns the State Preservation Board responsibility for the care and custody of the Texas Constitution, Texas Declaration of Independence and William B.

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Official caption: Relating to the care, custody, and display of the letter known as the victory or death letter, the Texas Constitution, and the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Harris, Metcalf, Raymond, Cain, Leo Wilson. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

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What does it do?

Effective September 1, 2025, HB1397 assigns the State Preservation Board responsibility for the care and custody of the Texas Constitution, Texas Declaration of Independence and William B. Travis’s February 24, 1836 “Victory or Death” letter. The actual transfer from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission is tied to the day the documents are to be displayed at the Capitol Complex—not automatically the act’s effective date. Final law

The board must work with the Texas Historical Commission and the library commission to identify a secure public Capitol Complex location for the Constitution and Declaration. The letter is to be displayed there in the interim, then at an appropriate Alamo complex location after the Historical Commission determines that transfer and display are safe and appropriate and the required coordination on timing occurs. The board remains expressly responsible for the letter’s safety and preservation in custody, storage and display. The law does not establish that the transfer or exhibits have already occurred.

By December 1, 2027, the agencies must develop the specified display plan, publish it on the board’s website and provide it to legislative committees overseeing historical resources. The plan covers the Constitution and Declaration at the Capitol Complex and the letter at the Alamo and other authorized sites. The planning subsection expires September 1, 2031; that is not an expiration of the entire custody-and-display law.

The board may also authorize limited-period displays of any of the three documents at museums, historical events or historical sites, with the required interagency consultation and collaboration. Display costs are paid by the board from money available for that purpose; the bill itself does not appropriate a stated amount.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill concerned only the letter and would have transferred control to the General Land Office as soon as practicable. The House committee substitute added the Constitution and Declaration, placed responsibility with the library commission, and added secure-display and Historical Commission safety checks. Metcalf and Harris’s adopted House amendment added the December 2027 public-plan requirement, its September 2031 expiration and limited temporary displays at historical events or sites. Introduced · House substitute · House amendment · Engrossed

The Senate committee substitute expressly added continuing responsibility for the letter’s preservation, included the letter in the display plan and added museums as temporary-display sites. Senator Mayes Middleton’s adopted Senate amendment replaced the bill’s operative text, assigning responsibility and costs to the State Preservation Board, retaining the other agencies’ roles and adding the display-day transfer provision. That replacement matches the final operative law. Thus the earlier Land Office and library-commission custody proposals are not the final arrangement. Senate substitute · Senate amendment · Amendment index · Version index

Governor Abbott signed the bill June 20, 2025. Final House concurrence was 141–0, with one present but not voting; Senate passage was 29–2. Official history

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Visitors, students and researchers may gain more opportunities to see the documents. State agencies must coordinate preservation, transport, security and exhibits; increased display access must be balanced against conservation needs. The act does not promise a specific opening date, visitor count or tourism return.

The final-stage Legislative Budget Board note finds an indeterminate state cost, depending on document condition and protective encasement specifications, with no significant local fiscal impact. Earlier House-substitute, engrossed and Senate-substitute notes discussed $1,819,245–$3,063,350 for fiscal year 2026 to display all three documents under the then-proposed arrangement. That historical planning range is not an appropriation, final contract price or final quantified two-year/five-year estimate; the final note does not retain the range. The introduced bill’s “no significant” estimate concerned a materially different proposal. Introduced note · House note · Engrossed note · Senate note · Second-house note · Enrolled-stage note

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.