HB4187

HB4187’s final law, effective September 1, 2025, changes several parts of the Texas Historical Commission’s work:

• Historical markers: It declares official Texas historical markers state property even when located on private land, and puts their preservation, maintenance and repair under the commission. The definition covers specified state centennial monuments and markers, medallions, monuments and plaques approved or administered by the commission or its predecessor. It expressly does not transfer ownership, control or upkeep of museums, statues, exhibition buildings or other buildings owned or operated by the listed private, local-government or higher-education entities. Responsibilities include covered markers previously handled by the Texas Facilities Commission.
• Purchasing: After a legally compliant competitive solicitation fails to produce competitive responsive bids, the executive director may negotiate with a qualified vendor meeting the original requirements. A written determination must explain why another solicitation is unlikely to produce responsive bids, would increase costs, or would delay a critical need. The law also allows practicable bundling of purchases to attract bidders. This is a conditional fallback, not permission to skip competition from the outset.
• Nonprofit partnerships and fees: Commission-approved agreements may authorize affiliated nonprofits to use state money for preservation, buildings, exhibits, education, archeology, acquisitions and related support. Agreements may allow exhibit, event and facility fees and gift-shop or concession revenue, used for the commission’s benefit. The law establishes a specific framework for the Washington-on-the-Brazos Historical Foundation’s support of Washington-on-the-Brazos, Fanthorp Inn, Barrington Living History Farm and the Star of the Republic Museum, including site-benefit revenue restrictions and commission oversight.
• Oversight and donor privacy: Covered nonprofit agreements bring annual independent audits, state-auditor access to state-money transactions and records, investment-law requirements for controlled state money, and commission direction of state spending. State money cannot be used to lobby or influence legislation; state employees cannot directly spend or obligate the nonprofit’s money. Donors’ names, addresses and other identifying information are confidential. Nonprofits retain property bought with their own money and held in their names; dissolution provisions generally benefit the commission, subject to governing-document or gift restrictions.
• Historic-site funding: The existing infrastructure sustainability trust fund may support “improving” sites as well as maintenance, preservation, rehabilitation and restoration. For additional distributions, the blanket restriction on acquiring real property is removed, but the ban on acquiring new historic sites remains. Existing restrictions on salaries and operating costs remain, as does the requirement to allocate at least one-third of regular annual distributions to courthouse preservation.
• Retail operations: Appropriated money may support and grow retail operations, but may not be placed in the separate retail operations fund. That fund may also include earned operating receipts. Retail operations become an auxiliary enterprise for Section 2155.141, putting their purchases outside the comptroller’s purchasing authority.
• Sites and interpretation: The law updates the statutory list of sites under commission jurisdiction to 40 named entries. Commission staff historians and interpretive planners must develop a framework presenting a cohesive story of Texas; the commission approves it and each site’s themes and storylines. Exhibits, programs and training for staff and volunteer guides must be consistent with that approved framework.

The purchasing change applies to contracts whose bids are first solicited on or after September 1, 2025. The trust-fund amendments apply to distributions requested on or after that date. The fee provisions authorize agreements, not a fixed statewide ticket price or an automatic fee increase.