BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center	H.B. 1969
86R2900 TSS-D	By: Clardy (Nichols)
	Transportation
	5/5/2019
	Engrossed

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Naming a portion of State Highway 7 in Nacogdoches County that includes the Harmony and Moral Communities as the Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Highway would commemorate the lives of the brave men who defended Bataan and Corregidor during the Philippine Campaign, of which 27,000 became prisoners to the Japanese.

 

Nacogdoches County had 15 men who died or became Japanese prisoners of war after this horrific battle.

 

Of the 15 heroes from the Moral and Harmony communities, five died in action or from wounds they sustained, while the other ten men returned to duty after they were eventually freed.

 

The siege of Corregidor and the Bataan Death March in 1942 led to over 27,000 prisoners‑of‑war, many of whom were killed in enemy camps or died of starvation and disease. The U.S. Congressional Research Service estimated that more than 40 percent of the prisoners of war lost their lives while imprisoned.

 

H.B. 1969 amends current law relating to the designation of the portion of State Highway 7 in Nacogdoches County as the Bataan and Corregidor Veterans 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 225.152, as follows:

 

Sec. 225.152.� BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY. (a) Designates the portion of State Highway 7 in Nacogdoches County as the Bataan and Corregidor Veterans Memorial Highway.

 

(b) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), subject to Section 225.021(c) (relating to prohibiting TxDOT from designing, constructing or erecting a marker unless a grant or donation of funds is made to cover the cost), to:

 

(1)� design and construct markers indicating the designation as the Bataan and Corregidor Veterans 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, 2019.