Austin, TX -- The Texas Donor, Education, Awareness and Registry program (DEAR) has been renamed the Glenda Dawson Donate Life-Texas Registry. Effective immediately, Texas' organ and tissue donor registry may affiliate with the National Donate Life America alliance and campaign, which allows the registry to educate and reach more potential donors statewide.

Senate Bill 1500 by Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, was enacted last week and is a tribute to former Rep. Glenda Dawson -- a transplant recipient who died last September. The bill is a follow-up to HB 120 (2005) by Zaffirini and Dawson, which created DEAR.

"The Glenda Dawson Donate Life-Texas Registry will help so many in need of life-saving transplant procedures not only by educating Texans about the importance of organ and tissue donation, but also, and more importantly, by recruiting more donors," Senator Zaffirini said. "Glenda Dawson's legacy and championship of greater access to donor information proudly will live on with the renaming of our state donor registry."

Information about becoming an organ donor is available via the internet at http://www.shareyourlife.org/ or http://www.texasdear.org/.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI, D-LAREDO, discusses SB 1500 and the importance of organ, tissue and eye donation with members of the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance and the Texas Transplant Society, Inc. during Donate Life Texas Day at the Capitol. The Texas Donor Education, Awareness and Registry program was renamed the Glenda Dawson Donate Life-Texas Registry with the enactment of SB 1500 by Zaffirini.

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