The Texas Historical Commission works with project sponsors and cultural resource consultants to develop cost-effective solutions for complying with the state and federal laws. At the same time, these studies must comply with standards defined in federal and state regulations regarding survey and reporting methods.

Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the federal agency is responsible for compliance. If the agency is directly responsible for the project — if, for example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was building a reservoir — the federal agency pays for the cultural resource studies. If a private developer or a state political subdivision, such as a city, receives a federal permit to undertake a project, the project's sponsor usually assumes the cost of the studies. For projects that occur on land owned or controlled by state agencies or Texas political subdivisions, the cost is incurred by the entity that is building the project. If a private company is developing on public land, the company usually pays for the cost of the cultural resource studies.