| (a) Discovery of Unknown or Abandoned Cemeteries. §711.010
of the Health and Safety Code requires that a person who discovers
an unknown or abandoned cemetery shall file notice of the discovery
of the cemetery with the county clerk of the county in which the cemetery
is located and concurrently mail notice to the landowner on record
in the county appraisal district not later than the 10th day after
the date of the discovery. The notice must contain a legal description
of the land on which the unknown or abandoned cemetery was found and
describe the approximate location of the cemetery and the evidence
of the cemetery that was discovered.
(1) The Commission may provide assistance to any party
required to file this notice.
(2) The Notice of Existence of Cemetery form available
on the Commission's website may be used to file this notice.
(3) The county clerk must provide a copy of the notice
to the Commission within 15 days after the filing of the notice with
the clerk, by mailing it to the following address: Cemetery Preservation
Coordinator, Texas Historical Commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin,
Texas 78711-2276.
(b) If one or more graves are discovered during construction
of improvements on a property, construction must stop and may only
proceed in a manner that would not further disturb the grave or graves
unless the graves are removed in accordance with §711.0105 of
the Health and Safety Code.
(c) Agricultural (including ranching), construction,
utility lines, industrial, and mining operations may not be conducted
in a manner that will disturb a grave or cemetery unless the graves
and dedication of the cemetery are removed in accordance with §711.035
of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) Discovery of Unverified Cemeteries. Section 711.0111
of the Health and Safety Code of Texas requires that any person that
discovers an unverified cemetery shall file a notice and evidence
of the discovery with the commission on a form provided by the commission.
Section 711.0111 also requires that any person that discovers an unverified
cemetery shall concurrently provide a copy of the notice of the filing
with the landowner on record in the county appraisal district on whose
land the unverified cemetery is located. The commission shall evaluate
the notice and the evidence submitted with the notice, and consider
the response of the landowner, if any is received not later than the
30th day after notice, and shall determine whether there is sufficient
evidence to support the claim of the existence of a cemetery. If the
commission determines that sufficient evidence supports the existence
of a cemetery, the commission shall notify the landowner and may file
notice of the existence of the cemetery under §711.011 of the
Health and Safety Code. If a notice of existence has already been
filed under §711.011 and the commission has determined that there
is not sufficient evidence of a cemetery the commission shall notify
the landowner of its determination, amend the notice to include the
commission's determination, and file the amendment with the county
clerk to correct the dedication.
(1) The Commission may provide assistance to a person
required to file this notice.
(2) The Notice of Unverified Cemetery form, which is
available on the Commission's website, shall be used to file this
notice.
(3) The Texas Historical Commission, with consent of
the landowner, may investigate a suspected but unverified cemetery
or may delegate the investigation to a qualified person described
by §711.0105(a).
(e) The commission shall use one or more of the following
criteria when assessing the verification of the existence of a cemetery:
(1) the location contains interment(s) that is/are
confirmed through assessments or investigations consented by the landowner
and performed by a professional archeologist or other individuals
as defined by §711.0105(a) of the Health and Safety Code of Texas;
(2) the location contains human burial caskets or other
containers or vessels that contain human remains or are contextually
known to have been used to inter human remains;
(3) the location contains articulated human remains
that were deliberately interred; or
(4) the location contains a burial pit or burial pit
features.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §22.4 adopted to be effective May 20, 2010, 35 TexReg 3809; amended to be effective January 2, 2018, 42 TexReg 7685; amended to be effective November 22, 2020, 45 TexReg 8129 |
