BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1925

By: Eltife

Transportation

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Sergeant Jay M. Hoskins of the United States Marine Corps was killed in action on August 6, 2009, in Afghanistan.  Sergeant Hoskins, 24, became the first Paris native son to make the supreme sacrifice for his country since the war in the Middle East began following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011.  It was the 2003 North Lamar High School graduate's third combat deployment since joining the Marine Corps following high school graduation.

Hoskins and two other Marines were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while supporting combat operations in Farah province.  Hoskins served tours in Iraq in 2004 and in Afghanistan in 2005.  While in Iraq, he participated in the Battle of Fallujah and received a Navy Unit Commendation medal, given by then-President George W. Bush for what his unit accomplished during the assignment.

In 2005, he served seven months in the Toro Boro area in the Afghanistan mountains, receiving his first two Afghanistan Campaign medals.  He also was the recipient of three combat ribbons, three sea service deployment ribbons, an Iraqi Campaign medal, a Navy Marine Corps Achievement medal, a National Defense Service medal, a Global War on Terror Service Medal, and a Purple Heart.

As a show of respect, S.B. 1925 amends the Transportation Code to designate a portion of U.S. Highway 271 as the Sergeant Jay M. Hoskins Memorial Highway.

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

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 225, Transportation Code, by adding Section 225.084, as follows:

Sec.  225.084.  SERGEANT JAY M. HOSKINS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY.  (a)  Designates the portion of U.S. Highway 271 from Loop 286 north to the Texas-Oklahoma border as the Sergeant Jay M. Hoskins Memorial Highway.

(b)  Requires the Texas Department of Transportation, subject to Section 225.021(c) (relating to using grants or donations to design, construct, and erect a marker), to:

(1) design and construct markers indicating the highway number, the designation as the Sergeant Jay M. Hoskins 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: upon passage or September 1, 2011.

EFFECTIVE DATE

Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2011.