R E S O L U T I O N 1-1 WHEREAS, David M. Laney is ending a distinguished tenure as a 1-2 member of the Texas Transportation Commission, and his noteworthy 1-3 accomplishments while in office indeed merit special legislative 1-4 recognition; and 1-5 WHEREAS, The chairman of the board and president of Dallas's 1-6 largest law firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, Mr. Laney was appointed to 1-7 the Texas Transportation Commission in April 1995 by Governor 1-8 George W. Bush and was named chairman of the commission; and 1-9 WHEREAS, Under his exceptional leadership, the commission has 1-10 been credited with a host of significant achievements, including 1-11 increasing highway construction contracts to a total of more than 1-12 $3 billion a year, building the first private toll road in the 1-13 state, and creating the North Texas Turnpike Authority; and 1-14 WHEREAS, Recognizing that the highways crossing the border 1-15 between Texas and Mexico were expected to increase in traffic, he 1-16 led the commission to create a $2.8 billion initiative to improve 1-17 the area's infrastructure; and 1-18 WHEREAS, Working to increase federal funding for Texas, he 1-19 drew an additional $700 million to the Lone Star State; these funds 1-20 have provided for much needed highway repair and construction and 1-21 have supported state transportation agencies, general aviation and 1-22 reliever airports, and the state's extensive urban and rural 1-23 transit systems; and 1-24 WHEREAS, Mr. Laney encouraged the Texas Department of 2-1 Transportation to develop more flexible financing tools to better 2-2 respond to the state's exploding transportation needs, and the 2-3 achievements of the department during his tenure on the commission 2-4 include such capital improvement projects as the LBJ Freeway and 2-5 the Grand Parkway in Houston; and 2-6 WHEREAS, This Dallas native is a graduate of Stanford 2-7 University and the Southern Methodist University School of Law; he 2-8 and his wife of more than 20 years, Eleanor, are the parents of two 2-9 daughters, Margaret and Virginia; highly regarded for his integrity 2-10 and insightfulness, he is also a former member of the Texas Finance 2-11 Commission; and 2-12 WHEREAS, Mr. Laney stepped down as commissioner of 2-13 transportation in April 2000 and will soon complete his six-year 2-14 term as a member of the commission; in light of his myriad 2-15 contributions to the Lone Star State, it is truly a privilege to 2-16 honor him at this time; now, therefore, be it 2-17 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 77th Texas 2-18 Legislature hereby express its appreciation to David M. Laney for 2-19 years of dedicated service to the Texas Transportation Commission 2-20 and extend to him sincere best wishes for success in his future 2-21 endeavors; and, be it further 2-22 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 2-23 prepared for Mr. Laney as an expression of high regard by the Texas 2-24 House of Representatives. Alexander Laney Goodman Merritt Alexander Goolsby Miller Allen Gray Moreno of Harris Averitt Green Moreno of El Paso Bailey Grusendorf Morrison Berman Gutierrez Mowery Bonnen Haggerty Naishtat Bosse Hamric Najera Brimer Hardcastle Nixon Brown of Kaufman Hartnett Noriega Brown of Brazos Hawley Oliveira Burnam Heflin Olivo Callegari Hilbert Pickett Capelo Hilderbran Pitts Carter Hill Puente Chavez Hinojosa Ramsay Chisum Hochberg Rangel Christian Hodge Raymond Clark Homer Reyna of Bexar Coleman Hope Reyna of Dallas Cook Hopson Ritter Corte Howard Sadler Counts Hunter Salinas Crabb Hupp Seaman Craddick Isett Shields Crownover Janek Smith Danburg Jones of Lubbock Smithee Davis of Harris Jones of Bexar Solis Davis of Dallas Jones of Dallas Solomons Delisi Junell Swinford Denny Keel Talton Deshotel Keffer Telford Driver King of Parker Thompson Dukes King of Uvalde Tillery Dunnam Kitchen Truitt Dutton Kolkhorst Turner of Coleman Edwards Krusee Turner of Harris Ehrhardt Kuempel Uher Eiland Lewis of Tarrant Uresti Elkins Lewis of Orange Villarreal Ellis Longoria Walker Farabee Luna West Farrar McCall Williams Flores McClendon Wilson Gallego McReynolds Wise Garcia Madden Wohlgemuth George Marchant Wolens Geren Martinez Fischer Woolley Giddings Maxey Yarbrough Glaze Menendez Zbranek _______________________________ Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 637 was adopted by the House on March 29, 2001, by a non-record vote. _______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House