BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 2246
87R23696 JTS-D	By: Schwertner
	Transportation
	5/5/2021
	As Filed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

State Trooper Chad Walker, 38, was stopping to assist a driver near Mexia, Texas, around 7:45 p.m. on Friday, March 26, when he was shot multiple times. Trooper Walker was transported to Baylor Scott & White�Hillcrest Hospital in Waco, where he later died from his injuries. The man who killed him, 37-year-old DeArthur Pinson Jr., ran from the scene and later killed himself. He had two previous convictions and had served a 10-year prison sentence. In his final lifesaving act, Trooper Walker�s organs were donated to save others.

Trooper Walker was born in 1982 in Corsicana to parents Michael and Brenda Walker. He grew up in Groesbeck and his grandfather, Dennis Walker, is a former Groesbeck police chief who served as Limestone County sheriff for 21 years. Trooper Walker began his career with the Athens Police Department in East Texas in 2003 before moving to the Groesbeck Police Department. Trooper Walker is survived by his wife, Tobie, and four children: son Ethan (15), twins Rylee and Charlee (7), and two-month-old baby girl Tulsa June. This memorial highway will serve as a marker in memory of the ultimate sacrifice Texas State Trooper Chad Walker made to protect his community. S.B. 2246 creates a memorial highway for State Highway 164 in Limestone County. This bill will erect two markers created by the Texas Department of Transportation to indicate each end of the memorial highway. The cost for these signs will be donated from private funds.

As proposed, S.B. 2246 amends current law relating to the designation of a portion of State Highway 164 in Limestone County as the State Trooper Chad Walker Memorial Highway.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 225, Transportation Code, by adding Section 225.190, as follows:

Sec. 225.190. STATE TROOPER CHAD WALKER MEMORIAL HIGHWAY. (a) Provides that the portion of State Highway 164 in Limestone County between its intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 1953 and the eastern municipal limits of Groesbeck is designated as the State Trooper Chad Walker Memorial Highway.

(b) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), subject to Section 225.021(c) (relating to prohibiting TxDOT from designing, constructing, or erecting a marker unless a grant or donation of funds is made to cover the cost) to:

(1) design and construct markers indicating the designation as the State Trooper Chad Walker Memorial Highway and any other appropriate information; and

(2) erect a marker at each end of the highway and at appropriate intermediate sites along the highway

SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2021.�