1. (a) Review by controlling entities. It is the responsibility of the permit applicant to obtain all necessary permissions and signatures prior to submitting an archeological permit application.
2. (b) Special regulations. When a permit is issued, it will contain all special regulations governing that particular investigation; it must be signed by the director of the Archeology Division of the Texas Historical Commission, or his or her designated representative.
3. (c) Permit period. No permit will be issued for less than one year, nor more than ten years, but may be issued for any length of time as deemed necessary by the commission in consultation with the principal investigator, sponsor, and permittee.
4. (d) Transferal of permits. No permit issued by the commission will be assigned by the permittee in whole or in part to any other institution, museum, corporation, organization, or individual without the consent of the commission.
5. (e) State site survey forms. Standard state site survey forms and/or TexSite electronic forms for all sites recorded as a result of activities undertaken through an Antiquities Permit will be completed and submitted to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas in Austin, upon the completion of field work.

6. (f) Permit expiration. The expiration date is specified in each permit and is the date by which all terms and conditions must be completed for that permit. It is the responsibility of the permittee(s), sponsors, investigative firms, and principal investigators prior to the expiration date listed on the permit to meet any and all permit submission terms and conditions.

   1. (1) Expiration notification. Principal investigators will be notified 60 days in advance of permit expiration.

   2. (2) Expiration extension. Principal investigators must complete and submit a Permit Extension Form to the commission if they desire an extension of the final due date for the completion of an Antiquities Permit that was issued to them. The Archeology Division (AD) of the commission will review the submitted Permit Extension Form, determine whether an extension is warranted and extended the permit completion due date once for no less than one year and no more than ten years as deemed appropriate. In addition, and upon review and recommendations by the Antiquities Advisory Board, the commission may by a majority vote of its members, approve or disapprove an additional extension of the final due date of an Antiquities Permit, beyond the single extension that the AD staff of the commission is authorized to issue under Section 26.17(f)(2) of this title, provided that the following conditions are met:

      1. (A) the principal investigator (PI), and/or the investigative firm listed under an Antiquities Permit must provide written documentation to, and give an oral presentation before, the Antiquities Advisory Board justifying why an additional permit due-date extension is warranted;
      2. (B) the justification for the additional extension must show that the additional extension is needed due to circumstances beyond the control of the PI. Examples include, but are not limited to: funding problems, death of the PI, and artifact curation problems.
7. (g) Expiration responsibilities. Investigative firms must insure that a principal investigator is assigned to a permit at all times, regardless of whether the permit is active or has expired. Both the principal investigator and investigative firm should insure that a new principal investigator is assigned to the permit, if for any reason the original principal investigator must leave the project. The assignment of a new principal investigator must be approved by the commission and agreed to by both the original and the new (proposed) principal investigator.
8. (h) Permit amendments. Proposed changes in the terms and conditions of the permit must be approved by the commission.

9. (i) Permit cancellation. The commission may cancel an Antiquities Permit as long as one or more of the following conditions are met:

   1. (1) the death of the principal investigator;
   2. (2) failure of the project sponsor to fully fund investigation;
   3. (3) cancellation of the project by the sponsor or permittee prior to the completion of the archeological field investigations;
   4. (4) violation of Section 26.3 of this title (relating to Compliance with Rules) and/or;
   5. (5) destruction of the permit area or associated cultural resources due to natural causes, prior to the substantive completion of the field investigations being performed under the permit.
10. (j) Permit censuring. The commission may censure a principal investigator and/or investigative firm if it is found that two or more permit application offenses have occurred in one calendar year. Permit application offenses result when investigations are performed without first obtaining a permit from the commission. Permit censuring will render a principal investigator and investigative firm ineligible for issuance of another permit for six months after a finding by the board that two or more permit application offenses have occurred in one calendar year.

Source Note:The provisions of this §26.17 adopted to be effective August 28, 2002, 27 TexReg 7789.