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  H.R. No. 999
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
 
         WHEREAS, Texans lost a tireless champion of higher education
  with the death of former University of Texas at Austin president
  William C. Powers Jr. on March 10, 2019, at the age of 72; and
         WHEREAS, A member of the UT School of Law faculty for more
  than four decades, Bill Powers took the helm of the university in
  2006; he implemented sweeping reform of the undergraduate
  curriculum, including the creation of mandatory signature courses
  for freshmen, and he guided the establishment of both the School of
  Undergraduate Studies and the Dell Medical School, the first new
  medical school at a tier one public university in decades; his
  commitment to increasing the four-year graduation rate brought a
  dramatic improvement, from about 50 percent to nearly 70 percent;
  and
         WHEREAS, Mr. Powers strived to make the university more
  efficient and accountable while also raising $3.1 billion through
  his eight-year Campaign for Texas; in addition, he launched the
  ESPN-owned Longhorn Network, which is expected to generate $300
  million over 20 years, much of that for the endowment of faculty
  chairs; under his leadership, the construction of 13 major
  buildings was commenced or completed; he established a vice
  presidency to oversee diversity and community engagement, and he
  was a stalwart advocate for the use of race and ethnicity as one
  factor in admissions, pursuing the Fisher affirmative action case
  all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and winning a landmark ruling;
  moreover, he was a fierce defender of the academic values and
  world-changing research that made his institution a "university of
  the first class"; he enjoyed a sterling reputation in the higher
  education community, and in 2013, he was elected chair of the
  Association of American Universities, which represents the top
  research universities in the U.S. and Canada; when he stepped down
  as UT president two years later, his administration ranked as the
  second-longest in UT history; and
         WHEREAS, Born in Los Angeles in 1946, Mr. Powers was the son
  of Mildred Rose Powers and William Charles Powers Sr.; he grew up in
  Southern California and earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry
  from the University of California, Berkeley; after serving in the
  U.S. Navy for three years, he graduated magna cum laude from
  Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law
  Review; he clerked for a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
  Ninth Circuit and taught at the University of Washington, the
  University of Michigan, and Southern Methodist University before
  joining the UT Law faculty in 1977; and
         WHEREAS, Mr. Powers became one of the nation's foremost
  experts on torts, and he was appointed by the prestigious American
  Law Institute as Reporter for Restatement (Third) for Torts, the
  most important text for practitioners in that field; his
  outstanding work then prompted the ALI to name him the R. Ammi
  Cutter Reporter; the author of numerous other articles and books on
  tort law and legal philosophy, he was much in demand as a consultant
  on a wide range of complex tort cases, and he argued 50 cases before
  the Texas Supreme Court; at the same time, his teaching and
  mentorship influenced generations of attorneys; and
         WHEREAS, While serving as dean of the law school, Mr. Powers
  was appointed to Enron's board of directors to lead an internal
  probe of the company's financial dealings and its ultimate
  collapse; his exhaustive report became a road map for more than a
  dozen congressional and executive branch investigations of
  corporate malfeasance, and it resulted in criminal prosecutions; in
  the wake of the scandal, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to
  strengthen financial and securities regulations; and
         WHEREAS, After leaving UT, Mr. Powers became of counsel to
  the Jackson Walker law firm, where he generously shared his
  knowledge with newly minted attorneys and seasoned professionals
  alike; he was the recipient of many accolades, among them the Robert
  B. McKay Award from the American Bar Association and the French
  Order of the Légion d'Honneur, and he was selected as the 2014
  Alumnus of the Year by UC-Berkeley; and
         WHEREAS, Bill Powers was a brilliant attorney, leading legal
  scholar, and visionary standard-bearer for higher education, and
  although he will be deeply missed by all who were privileged to
  share in the richness of his life, he has left an indelible imprint
  on both the practice of law and the educational landscape; now,
  therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas
  Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Bill Powers and
  extend sincere sympathy to the members of his family: to his wife of
  36 years, Kim Heilbrun; to his children, Matt, Kate, Allison,
  Annie, and Reid Powers; to his sister, Susan Powers; to his six
  grandchildren; and to all who mourn his passing; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
  prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
  Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Bill
  Powers.
 
  Howard
 
 
Bonnen of Brazoria Guerra Noble
 
Allen Guillen Oliverson
 
Allison Gutierrez Ortega
 
Anchia Harless Pacheco
 
Anderson Harris Paddie
 
Ashby Hefner Parker
 
Bailes Hernandez Patterson
 
Beckley Herrero Paul
 
Bell of Kaufman Hinojosa Perez
 
Bell of Montgomery Holland Phelan
 
Bernal Howard Price
 
Biedermann Huberty Ramos
 
Blanco Hunter Raney
 
Bohac Israel Raymond
 
Bonnen of Galveston E. Johnson of Dallas Reynolds
 
Bowers J. Johnson of Dallas Rodriguez
 
Buckley Johnson of Harris Romero, Jr.
 
Bucy Kacal Rose
 
Burns King of Hemphill Rosenthal
 
Burrows King of Parker Sanford
 
Button King of Uvalde Schaefer
 
Cain Klick Shaheen
 
Calanni Krause Sheffield
 
Canales Kuempel Sherman, Sr.
 
Capriglione Lambert Shine
 
Clardy Landgraf Smith
 
Cole Lang Smithee
 
Coleman Larson Springer
 
Collier Leach Stephenson
 
Cortez Leman Stickland
 
Craddick Longoria Stucky
 
Cyrier Lopez Swanson
 
Darby Lozano Talarico
 
Davis of Dallas Lucio III Thierry
 
Davis of Harris Martinez Thompson of Brazoria
 
Dean Martinez Fischer Thompson of Harris
 
Deshotel Metcalf Tinderholt
 
Dominguez Meyer Toth
 
Dutton Meza Turner of Dallas
 
Farrar Middleton Turner of Tarrant
 
Fierro Miller VanDeaver
 
Flynn Minjarez Vo
 
Frank Moody Walle
 
Frullo Morales White
 
Geren Morrison Wilson
 
Gervin-Hawkins Muñoz, Jr. Wray
 
Goldman Murphy Wu
 
González of Dallas Murr Zedler
 
González of El Paso Neave Zerwas
 
Goodwin Nevárez Zwiener
 
  ______________________________
  Speaker of the House     
 
         I certify that H.R. No. 999 was unanimously adopted by a rising
  vote of the House on April 8, 2019.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House