SB3059

The five members will be the three statewide leaders, one senator appointed by the lieutenant governor and one representative appointed by the speaker. Appointed members serve two-year terms. The chair rotates among the three leaders: governor first through January 2029, then lieutenant governor through January 2031, then speaker through January 2033. The commission must meet twice yearly and when called. Hiring an executive director requires approval from two of the three leadership officers. It will be administratively attached to the State Preservation Board, which supplies administrative support. Final law, sections 5–6 and 18.

Responsibility for preservation, maintenance, restoration, the complex’s contents and historical integrity moves to the commission. It must coordinate improvements with San Antonio through a memorandum of understanding. The existing state-purchasing-law exemption and ability to partner or contract with a qualifying nonprofit carry forward; they are not newly invented exceptions. The commission must prepare an annual budget and work plan, or oversee one prepared by its contracted nonprofit. It and the specified nonprofit may not spend public money to employ someone required to register as a lobbyist. Final law, sections 4 and 6–9; Existing powers.

The commission must arrange Department of Public Safety security operations. Repeals remove the old General Land Office staffing/ranger provision, the specific Daughters of the Republic of Texas agreement requirement, and the Alamo Preservation Advisory Board provision; affected advisory-board terms end on the effective date. The general power to contract with qualifying nonprofits remains. The act also repeals the 2023 provision adding commissioned Alamo rangers to the former peace-officer list, while expressly preserving the land office’s existing powers until the agreed transition date. Final law, sections 9 and 14–17; Prior Daughters agreement requirement; 2023 ranger law.

For artifacts, the Alamo Commission may negotiate with Mexico for a trade or loan of the New Orleans Greys battle flag or the April 6, 1813 Texas Declaration of Independence. Agreements require the governor’s and the appropriate Mexican authority’s approval and cannot change title. Restoration must preserve authenticity and integrity; if Mexico is not to restore an item beforehand, the commission may use only gifts or grants for its restoration afterward. Secure display locations must be designated, including for the Travis “Victory or Death” letter in consultation with the state agency that has jurisdiction over it. These are authorities and duties, not evidence that Mexico has agreed or that any artifact has been returned. Final law, section 9.

The separate authority concerning Texas’s San Jacinto battle flags remains with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission under Chapter 441, not the new Alamo Commission. The act separates that existing authority from the Alamo flag provisions and preserves the no-title-transfer and approval conditions. The Alamo Commission’s broader artifact jurisdiction expressly respects the flag and Travis-letter provisions. Final law, sections 1 and 9; Library commission identity; Existing flag law.

The Alamo complex account continues with operating revenue, transfers, gifts, grants, bequests and investment income; money remains restricted to the authorized Alamo purposes and unused balances carry forward. The commission may not use the Texas state buildings preservation endowment fund. Alamo specialty-license-plate proceeds, after administrative costs, keep the 75% preservation / 25% visitor-experience-or-education split, but the recipient changes from the land office to the commission. Final law, sections 5, 11 and 13; Existing account; Existing plate allocation.

An independent auditor must annually audit public-money expenditures by the contracted nonprofit. The state auditor must also examine the land office’s and its contracted nonprofits’ prior Alamo public spending, reporting by January 1, 2028. The transition agreement must transfer related powers, contracts, appropriations, records, property and personnel by that date; existing rules and decisions continue until superseded. Sunset review is tied to the State Preservation Board’s cycle, but the new commission is excluded from the review before the board’s scheduled September 2029 abolition date; that exception expires September 2031. Final law, sections 5, 12 and 15–17.

The Senate committee version made a terminology correction; the Senate-passed and House committee operative texts matched it. Three House floor amendments were adopted: Metcalf’s second-reading amendment added the artifact/flag/letter provisions, plate-revenue transfer and nonprofit work-plan option and removed the Daughters-specific provision; Cain’s second-reading amendment tied audit and transfer timing to the land office’s finding that the Alamo Plan was complete; Cain and others’ third-reading amendment added the 1813 Declaration. Conference retained the first set of changes and combined the Declaration with the flag section, but rejected the plan-completion timing trigger and restored the fixed 2027–2028 dates. Adoption of Cain’s timing amendment therefore did not make it final law. Versions; All three amendments and dispositions; Conference report; Final text.

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

The law shifts decision-making authority and creates audit, planning and coordination duties. Visitors and preservation efforts could benefit from oversight and artifact-display arrangements, but the act does not quantify visitor gains, guarantee an international agreement or itself fund a new construction project. Agencies and contracted nonprofits must manage the transition and required financial oversight. Final law.

The final conference fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact, assuming Alamo operations and capital costs transfer from the land office to the commission and related administrative costs to the Preservation Board. Earlier discussion of $435.9 million expected spending in 2024–2025, including $400 million in one-time master-plan funding, described earlier funding—not a new appropriation in SB3059 and not verified actual spending. The final estimate is not a promise of zero workload or guaranteed savings. Final fiscal note; Earlier fiscal context.