The General Land Office's main role is to manage Texas's publicly owned lands, by negotiating and enforcing leases for the use of the land, and sometimes by making sales of public lands. Royalties and proceeds from land sales are added to the state's Permanent School Fund, which helps to fund public education within the state. The agency is also responsible for keeping records of land grants and titles and for issuing maps and surveys of public lands. Since 2011 the GLO has managed The Alamo in San Antonio. The management of the Alamo was transferred to the General Land Office after allegations of mismanagement were directed at the prior manager, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
History
The Congress of the Republic of Texas established the General Land Office on 22 December 1836. The agency's constitutional purpose was to "superintend, execute, and perform all acts touching or respecting the public lands of Texas." Since its establishment the agency has been located in Austin, although a relocation to Houston was briefly attempted during the Texas Archive War. One former home of the GLO, the Old Land Office Building, is a registered historic place and now serves as the Texas State Capitol Visitor's Center. When Texas was annexed into the United States in 1845, it kept control of all of its public lands from its time as a sovereign state. As a result, Texas is the only US state to control all of its own public lands; all federal lands in Texas were acquired by purchase or donation. Texas's public lands were significantly enlarged by the US Submerged Lands Act of 1953 and the resolution of the ensuing Tidelands Controversy. Because Texas's historical territorial waters originated with the Republic, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that Texas was in the unique position of owning territory out to three leagues from its coastline. All of these lands are managed by the General Land Office.
Texas Land Commissioner
The head of the General Land Office is the Texas Land Commissioner, a statewide public official elected every four years. The current land commissioner is George P. Bush, who was elected on 4 November 2014. On June 19, 2017, Bush announced he would be running for re-election to the Texas Land Commissioner position, focusing on veteran issues, protection for the Gulf Coast from future disasters, continue to renovate the Alamo, and financing Texas children's education. Bush was reelected in 2018.
