(a) The commission is directed to:

(1) Develop a State of Georgia Civil War Sites Heritage Plan. The plan will promote heritage tourism and provide incentives to local landowners and local governments to preserve Civil War battlefields and historic sites. Through cooperative agreements between local governments, landowners, and the commission, such entities will work together to preserve and restore historic sites;

(2) Preserve, conserve, and interpret the legacy of the Civil War in the State of Georgia;

(3) Recognize and interpret important events and geographic locations in the conduct of the Civil War in the State of Georgia, including battle sites associated with Adairsville, Dallas, Lovejoy Station, Marietta, New Hope Church, Resaca, Allatoona, Rocky Face Ridge, Ringgold Gap, Davis Cross Roads, Buckhead Creek, and Griswoldville, as well as other historic properties associated with the events and consequences of the Civil War;

(4) Recognize and interpret the effect of war on the state's ethnically and culturally diverse civilian population during the war and the postwar reconstruction period;

(5) Establish within the state's Historic Resource Inventory as maintained by the Department of Natural Resources a geographic data base and information system that can be used to locate, track, and cross-reference significant historical and cultural properties, structures, and markers associated with the Civil War;

(6) Acquire or provide funds for the acquisition of Civil War battlegrounds, cemeteries, and other historic properties associated with the Civil War;

(7) Expend funds received from state appropriations and other sources to make grants to municipalities, counties, and nonprofit Civil War organizations for the purposes of maintaining and restoring existing Civil War memorials and cemeteries;

(8) Participate in and encourage efforts to establish a state museum to include displays illuminating Georgia's role in the Civil War and the effects of that war on Georgia and its people; and

(9) Encourage the establishment of reference sections relating to the Civil War in high schools and encourage heritage education programs.

(b) In carrying out its purposes, the commission is authorized:

(1) To accept loans or grants, or both, of money, materials, or property of any kind from the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality thereof upon such terms and conditions as the United States of America or such agency or instrumentality may impose;

(2) To receive and accept loans, gifts, grants, donations, or contributions of property, facilities, or services, with or without consideration, from any person, firm, or corporation or from the State of Georgia or any agency or instrumentality thereof or from any county, municipal corporation, or local government or governing body; and

(3) To hold, use, administer, and expend such sum or sums as may hereafter be received as income, as gifts, or as appropriations by authority of the General Assembly for any of the purposes of this commission.