BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	H.B. 1708
	By: Landgraf (Sparks)
	Transportation
	5/1/2025
	Engrossed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

On September 17, 2024, Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez was struck by a vehicle while investigating a crash along State Highway 302. Tragically, Trooper Ramirez Vasquez succumbed to his injuries on September 28. H.B. 1708 seeks to honor the life and service of Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez by designating a portion of State Highway 302 in Ector County in his memory.

H.B. 1708 amends the Transportation Code to designate the portion of State Highway 302 in Ector County between its intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 2019 and the Ector-Winkler County line as the Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez Memorial Highway.

This 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 Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez Memorial Highway and any other appropriate information and erect a marker at each end of the highway and at appropriate intermediate sites along the highway.

H.B. 1708 amends current law relating to the designation of a portion of State Highway 302 in Ector County as the Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez 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 225.246, as follows:

Sec. 225.246. TROOPER KEVIN RAMIREZ VASQUEZ MEMORIAL HIGHWAY. (a) Provides that the portion of State Highway 302 in Ector County between its intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 2019 and the Ector-Winkler County line is designated as the Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez 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 design and construct markers indicating the designation as the Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez Memorial Highway and any other appropriate information and erect a marker at each end of the highway and at appropriate intermediate sites along the highway.

SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2025.