H.R. No. 1231
                                  R E S O L U T I O N
    1-1        WHEREAS, The Texas House of Representatives is proud to honor
    1-2  Professor John J. "Jack" Sampson, the associate dean for academic
    1-3  affairs and William Benjamin Wynne Professor of Law at The
    1-4  University of Texas School of Law; and
    1-5        WHEREAS, This eminent attorney and educator has long played
    1-6  an active role in making this state a better place in which to live
    1-7  and raise a family, and he is known to many members of this chamber
    1-8  as "Mr. Family Code of Texas" for the invaluable assistance he has
    1-9  provided legislators through the years in the drafting of
   1-10  legislation affecting Texas children and their families; and
   1-11        WHEREAS, For the past two decades, Professor Sampson also has
   1-12  served as the legislative advisor to the Family Law Council of the
   1-13  State Bar of Texas and as editor of the State Bar Family Law
   1-14  Section Report; and
   1-15        WHEREAS, In 1980, he founded the Children's Rights Clinic at
   1-16  The University of Texas School of Law, an entity that has since
   1-17  provided attorneys ad litem for children involved in abuse and
   1-18  neglect cases in Travis County; and
   1-19        WHEREAS, A nationally recognized authority in the field of
   1-20  family law, Professor Sampson has served as coreporter of the
   1-21  Uniform Interstate Family Support Act for the National Conference
   1-22  of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and is highly regarded
   1-23  throughout the State of Texas as the coauthor of Sampson &
   1-24  Tindall's Texas Family Code Annotated, as the chairman of the
    2-1  Pattern Jury Charge Committee on Family Cases for the State Bar of
    2-2  Texas, and as a longtime member of the board of the Legal Aid
    2-3  Society of Central Texas; and
    2-4        WHEREAS, Most recently, Professor Sampson devoted countless
    2-5  hours to the nonsubstantive revision of the parent-child sections
    2-6  of the Texas Family Code contained in House Bill 655, which was
    2-7  passed unanimously by the 74th Legislature and was signed into law
    2-8  by Governor George W. Bush on April 20, 1995; and
    2-9        WHEREAS, This fine gentleman has actually resided in the Lone
   2-10  Star State only for the past 25 years; a native of Minnesota, he
   2-11  moved to the Great State of Texas in 1970, where he has since
   2-12  learned to appreciate the good life despite never having acquired a
   2-13  taste for the excellent Tex-Mex fare the state has to offer; and
   2-14        WHEREAS, Though he has not totally assimilated every aspect
   2-15  of the state's unique culture, we are all much richer for his
   2-16  presence, for his determined efforts to keep the Texas Family Code
   2-17  attuned to the needs of today's rapidly changing society have
   2-18  greatly enhanced the lives of countless Texans; now, therefore, be
   2-19  it
   2-20        RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 74th Texas
   2-21  Legislature hereby honor Professor John J. "Jack" Sampson for his
   2-22  extensive contributions to the citizens of Texas as a preeminent
   2-23  authority on family law matters and as a longtime advocate for the
   2-24  rights of our state's youngest citizens; and, be it further
   2-25        RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
   2-26  prepared for Professor Sampson as an expression of highest regard
   2-27  by the Texas House of Representatives.