Overall Vote Recommendation

Neutral

Principle Criteria

Free Enterprise

Property Rights

Personal Responsibility

Limited Government

Individual Liberty

Digest

HB 5216 designates a portion of U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County as the U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jose Rodriguez-Lua Memorial Highway. Specifically, the designation applies to the segment of the highway between its intersections with Farm-to-Market Road 493 and Farm-to-Market Road 88. The memorial designation is made in addition to any existing highway designation and does not replace or alter any current name or numbering.

The bill directs the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), subject to existing statutory requirements regarding the funding of memorial markers, to design, construct, and install highway markers identifying the designated segment as the U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jose Rodriguez-Lua Memorial Highway. Markers are to be placed at each end of the designated corridor and at appropriate intermediate locations. As with similar memorial highway designations, installation of signage is contingent upon compliance with Transportation Code provisions governing funding for memorial markers.

The Committee Substitute for HB 5216 makes only minor, non-substantive changes to the originally filed bill. The primary change is to the official name of the memorial highway. The introduced version designated the roadway as the Border Patrol Agent Jose Rodriguez-Lua Memorial Highway, while the Committee Substitute revises the designation to the U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jose Rodriguez-Lua Memorial Highway. This change is reflected throughout the bill, including the section heading and the language directing the Texas Department of Transportation to construct and install highway markers.

The Committee Substitute also reverses the order in which the highway segment's endpoints are described. The originally filed bill identified the designated portion of U.S. Highway 281 as extending from its intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 88 to its intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 493, whereas the Committee Substitute describes the same segment from Farm-to-Market Road 493 to Farm-to-Market Road 88. This revision does not alter the actual roadway being designated; it merely changes the directional description of the segment.

Aside from these revisions, the Committee Substitute leaves the bill unchanged. It continues to designate the same portion of U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County as a memorial highway, directs TxDOT to install appropriate signage subject to existing funding requirements, retains the legislative intent language regarding statutory renumbering, and maintains the same effective date.

Author (1)

Armando Martinez

Contact the Author

Rep. Armando Martinez

Capitol Phone:

(512) 463-0530

Capitol Office:

CAP 1N.10

E-Mail:

[email protected]

Visit Official Website

Fiscal Notes

According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), no significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated as a result of HB 5216. The bill's primary requirement is for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to design, construct, and install memorial highway markers for the designated segment of U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County. The LBB assumes that any costs associated with these activities can be absorbed within the department's existing resources and do not require additional appropriations.

The fiscal note further concludes that the bill will not have a fiscal impact on local governments. Because the designation and installation of highway markers are responsibilities of the state, cities, counties, and other local governmental entities are not expected to incur any additional costs or realize any savings as a result of the legislation.

Overall, the LBB projects that the bill's implementation would have a neutral fiscal impact, with only minor administrative and signage costs that TxDOT is expected to manage using existing appropriated resources, and no measurable financial effect on state or local government budgets.

Vote Recommendation Notes

HB 5216 is a ceremonial measure that designates a portion of U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County as the U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jose Rodriguez-Lua Memorial Highway in recognition of a Border Patrol agent who was killed in the line of duty. The bill does not establish new public programs, expand regulatory authority, or alter substantive state policy beyond authorizing the placement of memorial highway markers.

The bill has no significant fiscal implications according to the Legislative Budget Board, with any implementation costs expected to be absorbed within existing Texas Department of Transportation resources, and it has no anticipated fiscal impact on local governments. Likewise, the bill does not create criminal offenses, grant rulemaking authority, or materially affect any of the core liberty principles.

Because the bill is purely commemorative and produces no meaningful expansion or reduction of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise, private property rights, or limited government, Texas Policy Research remains NEUTRAL.

Individual Liberty: The bill does not create new mandates, prohibitions, penalties, or restrictions on individuals. It neither expands nor limits the rights or freedoms of Texans.
Personal Responsibility: The bill does not alter incentives for individual behavior or shift responsibilities between individuals and the state. Its purpose is solely to designate a memorial highway.
Free Enterprise: The bill does not regulate businesses, affect market competition, create subsidies, or impose compliance costs on private enterprises.
Private Property Rights: The designation applies to an existing state highway and does not affect the ownership, use, or control of private property, nor does it create any takings or land-use implications.
Limited Government: While the bill directs the Texas Department of Transportation to install memorial highway markers, this is a routine administrative function carried out under existing authority with no significant fiscal impact and no expansion of agency powers, programs, or rulemaking authority. The bill does not create new governmental entities, ongoing programs, or regulatory authority.

Related Legislation

SB 1351 (Similar To)

View Bill Text and Status