AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

On August 5, 2003, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff was killed in a head on collision with another vehicle in his lane on Farm-to-Market Road 1293.  He was answering an Operation Game Thief call in west Hardin County on the Big Thicket National Preserve.  He had been a dedicated civil servant since 1993.

 

H.B. 219 amends the Transportation Code to designate Farm-to-Market Road 1293 between State Highway 326 and Farm-to-Market Road 787 in Hardin County as the Texas Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff Memorial Highway. The bill requires the Texas Department of Transportation, subject to a grant or donation of funds, to design and construct markers indicating the designation as the Texas Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff Memorial Highway and any other appropriate information, and to erect a marker at each end of the highway and at appropriate intermediate sites along the highway.

 

H.B. 219 amends current law relating to the designation of Farm-to-Market Road 1293 in Hardin County as the Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff 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 225.105, as follows:

 

Sec. 225.105. GAME WARDEN WESLEY W. WAGSTAFF MEMORIAL HIGHWAY. (a) Provides that Farm-to-Market Road 1293 in Hardin County is designated as the Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff Memorial Highway. Provides that the designation is in addition to any other designation.

 

(b) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), subject to Section 225.021(c) (prohibiting TxDOT from designing, constructing, or erecting a marker under this subchapter unless a grant or donation of funds is made to the department to cover the cost of the design, construction, and erection of the marker), to:

 

(1) design and construct markers indicating the designation as the Game Warden Wesley W. Wagstaff 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, 2015.