Bill Text: TX HCR83 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Designating June 2 as Italian Heritage Day for a 10-year period beginning in 2021.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-26 - Removed from local & uncontested calendar [HCR83 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR83-Comm_Sub.html
By: Parker (Senate Sponsor - Johnson) | H.C.R. No. 83 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2021; | ||
May 12, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on | ||
Administration; May 20, 2021, reported favorably by the following | ||
vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 20, 2021, sent to printer.) | ||
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WHEREAS, The Lone Star State has benefited enormously from | ||
the contributions of its Italian American residents; and | ||
WHEREAS, During the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, the | ||
few Italians who came to Texas were mainly explorers, adventurers, | ||
or missionaries; Italians began to play a larger role toward the end | ||
of the 19th century, when Piedmontese made their homes in Montague | ||
County and Sicilians settled in the lower Brazos valley and on the | ||
Galveston County mainland; Modenese, Venetians, and Piedmontese | ||
worked the coal mines at Thurber, and Italian financier Joseph | ||
Telfener brought some 1,200 Lombards to help construct the New | ||
York, Texas and Mexican Railway between Victoria and Rosenberg; and | ||
WHEREAS, Most of the railway builders and coal miners moved | ||
back to Italy or on to other places when their work was completed; | ||
however, the Italian American community in the Brazos valley fanned | ||
out into surrounding areas, and settlements in Houston, Galveston, | ||
and San Antonio expanded rapidly; new residents founded churches, | ||
newspapers, and benevolent-fraternal organizations, as well as | ||
businesses; prominent Italian Americans of the 20th century include | ||
bootmaker Sam Lucchese, sculptor Pompeo Coppini, rancher Antonio | ||
Mateo Bruni, and agriculturalist-developer Biagio Varisco; the | ||
towns of Bruni and Varisco and such names as Bruni Park, Varisco | ||
Airport, Liggio Street, and Laneri Avenue are a testament to the | ||
achievements of Italian Americans; and | ||
WHEREAS, Through the years, individuals of Italian descent | ||
have excelled in all sectors of our society and economy, enriching | ||
our cultural tapestry, enhancing our prosperity, and securing the | ||
Lone Star State's reputation as a land of promise and possibility; | ||
most recently, Italian Americans have made prominent contributions | ||
throughout the state in such areas as aerospace, energy, | ||
technology, science, research, and arts and culture, in addition to | ||
construction and economic development projects; June 2 represents | ||
an ideal date on which to honor all of those accomplishments, as | ||
Italians around the world celebrate this day as Festa della | ||
Repubblica to commemorate the 1946 referendum that ended the | ||
monarchy in Italy and established a republic and to commemorate | ||
over 160 years since the unification of Italy; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby designate June 2 as Italian Heritage Day; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That, in accordance with the provisions of Section | ||
391.004(d), Government Code, this designation remain in effect | ||
until the 10th anniversary of the date this resolution is finally | ||
passed by the legislature. | ||
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