SECTION 25.9. Discovery and Evaluation of Unverified Cemeteries

(a) 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.

(b) Criteria for Evaluating and Verifying Cemeteries. 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.

Source Note: The provisions of this §25.9 adopted to be effective December 31, 2017, 42 TexReg 7382