Bill Text: TX HCR64 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Concurrent Resolution 64 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Directing the Texas Facilities Commission to rename the John H. Reagan State Office Building the Irma Rangel State Office Building.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-15 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR64 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HCR64-Introduced.html

	87R9128 BPG-D

	By: González of Dallas	H.C.R. No. 64



	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, State office buildings should be named after the
	most laudable of citizens, but the namesake of the John H. Reagan
	State Office Building was a secessionist who ardently promoted
	white supremacy throughout his lifetime; and
	WHEREAS, During the Confederacy, John H. Reagan served in the
	cabinet of Jefferson Davis as postmaster general; he later won
	election as a United States senator and as railroad commissioner of
	Texas, and he used his stature to vigorously champion the myth of
	the Lost Cause; a major voice for racist ideology even into the
	early 20th century, he proposed legislation to prevent African
	Americans from exercising their right to vote, helping to lay the
	groundwork for generations of systematic disenfranchisement; and
	WHEREAS, The building named after John H. Reagan currently
	stands as an insult to communities that have suffered under his
	legacy of oppression and to the millions of Texans who abhor his
	discredited values; to make amends, the state would do well to honor
	instead a woman of color who worked tirelessly to break down the
	barriers he helped erect; and
	WHEREAS, Kingsville native Irma Rangel, who attended a
	segregated elementary school, became the first Mexican American
	woman elected to the Texas Legislature in 1976; dedicated to higher
	education and equity for minorities and the impoverished, she
	secured passage of numerous bills that expanded access to
	advancement, including the legislation that provided funding for
	the first professional school in South Texas; in appreciation,
	Texas A&M University-Kingsville named that school the Irma Rangel
	College of Pharmacy; she ably chaired the House Higher Education
	Committee from 1995 until 2003, the year she lost her battle with
	brain cancer; and
	WHEREAS, Irma Rangel embodied the highest ideals of the Lone
	Star State through her unyielding commitment to equal rights and
	opportunity for all Texans, and it would be fitting to remedy an
	affront to those ideals by renaming the John H. Reagan Building in
	her honor; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby direct the Texas Facilities Commission to rename the John H.
	Reagan State Office Building the Irma Rangel State Office Building;
	and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
	copy of this resolution to the chair and executive director of the
	Texas Facilities Commission.