Bill Text: TX HR1730 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Honoring former state senator Joe Bernal of San Antonio.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-27 - Reported enrolled [HR1730 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HR1730-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 1730 |
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WHEREAS, Former state senator Joe J. Bernal has devoted his | ||
life to expanding the horizons of opportunity for all Texans; and | ||
WHEREAS, The son of Jose and Antonia Bernal, Joe Bernal was | ||
born in San Antonio in 1927 and grew up with eight brothers and | ||
sisters on the city's west side; after graduating from Lanier High | ||
School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as an infantryman in | ||
Manila and Tokyo with the Headquarters Squadron, Pacific Air | ||
Command; he attained the rank of sergeant before receiving his | ||
honorable discharge at the age of 19; and | ||
WHEREAS, Senator Bernal attended Trinity University through | ||
the G.I. Bill and earned his bachelor's degree in sociology; after | ||
teaching in the Kosciusko Independent School District for a year, | ||
he went on to serve at Burleson Elementary School in Edgewood ISD | ||
and then Crockett Elementary School in San Antonio ISD; along the | ||
way, he earned a master's degree in education with a minor in social | ||
work from Our Lady of the Lake College, and he was employed as a | ||
social worker by the Inman Christian Center for four years; and | ||
WHEREAS, In 1964, Joe Bernal was elected to the Texas House of | ||
Representatives, and he worked tirelessly in behalf of an amendment | ||
to the state constitution that allowed seniors who had lived in the | ||
U.S. for more than 25 years to receive benefits regardless of their | ||
citizenship status; voters in Bexar County sent him to the state | ||
senate in 1966, and over the course of two terms in office, he | ||
dedicated himself to increasing educational access and protecting | ||
vulnerable members of society; in 1969, he overcame fierce | ||
opposition to secure passage of the state's first bilingual | ||
education act, and he helped the state obtain federal funding for | ||
bilingual education; he was also instrumental in abolishing a law | ||
against using languages other than English in the classroom; | ||
moreover, he sponsored the bill establishing The University of | ||
Texas at San Antonio and battled tenaciously to pass it, and he | ||
achieved the same success with his bill founding the UTSA dental and | ||
nursing schools; his legislative initiatives further included the | ||
state's first minimum wage law, lesson-planning time for teachers, | ||
state-supported kindergarten programs, and funding for a criminal | ||
justice council; in addition, he chaired the Federal Programs and | ||
Relations, Claims, and Poverty in Texas Committees and led the | ||
Texas House and Senate Mexican American Caucus; and | ||
WHEREAS, While making a tremendous impact as a lawmaker, | ||
Senator Bernal was employed as executive director for the Guadalupe | ||
Community Center and then for the Commission for Mexican American | ||
Affairs; he later became director of the Bilingual Cost Analysis | ||
Project of the Intercultural Development Research Association and a | ||
regional director of ACTION, a federal agency that coordinated | ||
volunteer opportunities; and | ||
WHEREAS, Senator Bernal completed his doctoral degree in | ||
cultural foundations in education at The University of Texas at | ||
Austin, having written his dissertation on bilingual/bicultural | ||
education; from the early 1980s into the 1990s, he served as | ||
principal of Emma Frey Elementary School in Edgewood ISD and as | ||
assistant superintendent for instructional services for Harlandale | ||
ISD; in 1996, he was elected to the State Board of Education, and | ||
over the next decade, he championed bilingual education and fought | ||
to provide classrooms with Spanish-language textbooks and to have | ||
the elementary curriculum translated into Spanish; in addition, his | ||
efforts were crucial in bringing mariachi band competitions into | ||
the University Interscholastic League; twice reelected to the | ||
board, he served as its vice chair from 2001 to 2003 and chaired the | ||
committee on instruction; and | ||
WHEREAS, In 2014, Northside ISD named a new campus the | ||
Dr. Joe J. Bernal Middle School; previously, he and his wife, | ||
fellow educator Mary Esther Bernal, received the Lifetime | ||
Achievement Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and | ||
Educational Fund for their efforts in behalf of the Latino | ||
community; the couple have shared more than six decades of | ||
marriage, and they are the parents of four children, Richard, | ||
Patrick, Bernard, and Rebecca; and | ||
WHEREAS, The destiny of a state is inextricably linked to the | ||
quality and equality of its public education system, and through | ||
his unyielding commitment to providing all Texans with a strong | ||
foundation on which to build, Joe Bernal has enriched the lives of | ||
innumerable people; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby honor former state senator Joe Bernal for his | ||
outstanding contributions to the Lone Star State and extend to him | ||
sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
prepared for Senator Bernal as an expression of high regard by the | ||
Texas House of Representatives. | ||
Martinez Fischer | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 1730 was adopted by the House on May | ||
24, 2019, by a non-record vote. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||