86R7557 BPG-D
 
  By: Reynolds H.R. No. 105
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, The year 2019 marks the 46th anniversary of the year
  the Honorable Mickey Leland was sworn in as a member of the Texas
  House of Representatives; and
         WHEREAS, Born in Lubbock in 1944, George Thomas "Mickey"
  Leland III grew up in Houston's Fifth Ward and earned his bachelor's
  degree in pharmacy at Texas Southern University; while working as
  an instructor of clinical pharmacy at his alma mater, he developed
  an educational outreach campaign offering medical screenings to
  low-income residents; and
         WHEREAS, Congressman Leland was only 28 when he won election
  to the Texas House of Representatives from District 88, then
  located in Harris County; he quickly gained renown as a champion of
  health care for the poor, and he helped secure passage of
  legislation giving those in need access to affordable generic
  drugs; a member of numerous committees, he became the first African
  American to serve on the Senate-House Conference Committee as a
  member of the House Appropriations Committee, and he was vice chair
  of the Joint Committee on Prison Reform; and
         WHEREAS, In 1978, following three terms in the Texas
  Legislature, Congressman Leland was elected to the United States
  House of Representatives; he founded the House Select Committee on
  Hunger and helped establish the National Commission on AIDS; in
  addition, he secured passage of bills providing fresh produce to
  low-income families and medical clinics and food to the homeless;
  he also served as chair of the Black Caucus, and he won praise from
  the State Department for his successful efforts in arranging the
  release of four Americans imprisoned in Cuba; tragically, he lost
  his life in a plane crash in 1989, while leading a relief mission to
  a refugee camp in Ethiopia; his contributions have since continued
  to resonate, and over the years, a number of facilities and
  initiatives have been renamed in his honor, among them a federal
  building in Houston, the Texas Commission on Environmental
  Quality's Internship Program, and the Mickey Leland College
  Preparatory Academy for Young Men; moreover, the Barbara
  Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern
  University celebrates the contributions of these two
  groundbreaking representatives from the 18th Congressional
  District; and
         WHEREAS, Mickey Leland demonstrated a tremendous commitment
  to his fellow Texans and to vulnerable people the world over, and
  his legacy remains a source of inspiration to all; now, therefore,
  be it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas
  Legislature hereby commemorate the 46th anniversary of Mickey
  Leland being sworn in as a member of the Texas House of
  Representatives.