BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 468

By: Burnam

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Hispanic community in Fort Worth has a rich tradition of community service and has long embraced the organizing efforts of Cesar Chavez. During the decade before his death in 1993, Chavez visited Fort Worth on three occasions.  He was honored for his work as a champion of this community and working people everywhere.  In 1994, Chavez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to honor his notable service against injustice to workers.

C.S.H.B. 468 honors Cesar Chavez by designating a portion of the IH-35 corridor, which dissects the City of Fort Worth from north to south through many Hispanic neighborhoods, as Cesar Chavez Memorial Freeway.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 468 amends the Transportation Code to designate Interstate Highway 35W between Interstate Highway 20 and State Highway 183 as the Cesar Chavez Memorial Freeway. The bill specifies that this designation is in addition to any other designation.  The bill requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to design and construct memorial markers indicating the highway number, the designation as the Cesar Chavez Memorial Freeway, and any other appropriate information and to erect a marker at each end of the highway and at appropriate intermediate sites along the highway.  The bill makes these requirements subject to a grant or donation of funds to TxDOT to cover the cost of the design, construction, and erection of the markers.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. contains a provision not included in the original specifying that the highway designation described by the bill is in addition to any other designations.