(a) Except as provided by Sections 713.027, 713.0271, and 713.028, a trustee of a fund established under this subchapter or a member of the commissioners court or any other elected county officer may not pay or use public funds or county employees, equipment, or property to maintain a neglected or unkept public or private cemetery.
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a county if:
(1) the county owned the cemetery from September 1, 1976, through January 1, 1979; or
(2) the county used county funds, employees, equipment, or property to maintain a county-owned cemetery during 1976.

(c) A county described by Subsection (b)(1) or (2) may continue to own the cemetery or to provide maintenance for the cemetery that qualified the county for the exception if the county files with the secretary of state a certified copy of a commissioners court order certifying that the county qualifies to own or maintain a cemetery under this section. The order must be kept in a register entitled “County-Owned and -Operated Cemeteries.”