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Tex. Natural Resources Code § 191.053

This is the official text of Tex. Natural Resources Code § 191.053, part of Texas’s Natural Resources Code — governs land, minerals, and natural resource management.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

§ 191.053. CONTRACT FOR DISCOVERY AND SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.

Official statutory text

(a) The committee may contract with other state agencies or political subdivisions and with qualified private institutions, corporations, or individuals for the discovery and scientific investigation of sunken or abandoned ships or wrecks of the sea, or any part of the contents of them, or archeological deposits or treasure imbedded in the earth.

(b) The contract shall:

(1) be on a form approved by the attorney general;

(2) specify the location, nature of the activity, and the time period covered by the contract; and

(3) provide for the termination of any right in the investigator or permittee under the contract on the violation of any of the terms of the contract.

(c) The executed contract shall be recorded by the person, firm, or corporation obtaining the contract in the office of the county clerk in the county or counties in which the operations are to be conducted prior to the commencement of the operation.

(d) Title to all objects recovered is retained by the State of Texas unless and until it is released by the committee.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.