Texas House Bill HB 897

Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

• Filed: 11/12/24
• Out of House Committee: 4/30/25

Caption

Relating to authorizing the sale or lease by the State of Texas of certain real property located in Austin, Texas.

Summary

HB 897 authorizes the State of Texas, through the General Land Office and the Health and Human Services Commission, to sell or lease two specific parcels of state-owned real property in Austin, Travis County. One parcel is a 20.3127-acre site at 4400 Shoal Creek Boulevard currently used by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for a state records facility. The other is an approximately 7.5-acre parcel near West 45th Street and Lamar Boulevard that may be leased by HHSC. For the Shoal Creek property, the bill requires that any sale or lease be contingent on construction and occupation of an alternative state records facility to replace the existing one. Proceeds from a sale or lease would be deposited into a newly created dedicated account in general revenue called the bicentennial Texas State Library and Archives Commission fund, and those funds must be used for capital improvements to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center and the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building, as well as to improve public access to original source materials. For the HHSC parcel, lease proceeds would go to the Texas capital trust fund for the benefit of the commission, and any lease would have to limit the lessee’s use as approved by HHSC and preserve easements to adjacent commission property.

Impact

The bill would create new authority for state agencies to dispose of or lease specified state land in Austin and would direct the resulting revenue into dedicated funds rather than the general operating budget. It would also establish a new bicentennial Texas State Library and Archives Commission fund and channel lease proceeds from the HHSC property into the Texas capital trust fund. The measure affects state property management, the General Land Office, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and HHSC, while also tying any transaction involving the library/archives site to replacement of the existing records facility.

Sentiment

Based on the bill’s progression and lack of recorded committee testimony or floor votes in the provided materials, the available record suggests a largely administrative and fiscally oriented proposal rather than a highly debated one. The bill was considered in the Land & Resource Management process but ultimately was laid on the table subject to call in the House, indicating it did not advance at that stage. No explicit supportive or opposing statements are included in the provided context.

Contention

The main policy issue is whether the state should sell or lease valuable Austin land and how the proceeds should be used. Potential concerns include the requirement to replace the existing state records facility before disposing of the Shoal Creek property, the long-term public value of state-owned land in Austin, and whether the lease restrictions and easement protections are sufficient for the HHSC parcel. Because no committee transcript is provided, specific objections or supporters cannot be identified from the record, but the contingency tied to the records facility and the disposition of state assets are the likely points of contention.