Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

State Representative Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

AUSTIN, May 7 - With less than a month remaining in the legislative session, border lawmakers are making progress on bills they believe will benefit the border in economic development and health.

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales is attempting to launch a bureau of economic development for the border region but the bill to establish it originally came with a hefty price tag. The legislation was given new life recently after some changes that make the idea more financially feasible.

St. Mary’s University in San Antonio has agreed that, if created, it will house the bureau. Specifically, the bureau would work with and be housed at the SABER Institute, a think tank that is part of a partnership between the school and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Gonzales, a McAllen Democrat, said the situation would be ideal due to studies currently undertaken by university staff.

“They are willing to do the work (and) they are already doing work in this area, in terms of studying Hispanic economics and opportunities for Hispanics,” she said. “This would really fall into what they are doing.”

Steve Nivin, the SABER institute’s director and chief economist, said the bureau would undertake studies that focus on how to maximize the potential present in the Hispanic market.

“If you look at the demographic, not just in Texas but nationally, it’s going to be the Hispanic market that is driving (the economy),” he said. “We think it’s vitally important to understand that market and to understand the issues around that.”

The number of appointees was lowered from its original nine to seven, after the offices of the state governor and the secretary of state chose not to appoint any members, Gonzales said.

Appointees will now come from the offices of the lieutenant governor, house speaker, chairs of the Senate and House committees on border affairs, and three additional appointees well-versed in trade, engineering and other aspects of economic development.

The bill was unanimously voted out of the House Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and should see floor action soon.

Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, also saw a resolution he authored unanimously voted out of committee. House Concurrent Resolution 171 would urge the United States Congress to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to create a public health region for the border.

Guillen said that often times certain areas get overlooked or receive inadequate funding due to federal formulas that only consider certain criteria.

“Most formula funding that goes to health and health care is based on population,” he said.

“What we are trying to point out, not only to the state government but to the federal government, is that they should take into consideration other factors like proximity to the international border where you have to consider other things like diseases, like we are dealing with now with the (H1N1) flu. It’s something that we’ve been trying to implement here in Texas and now we are trying to move our efforts toward the federal government.”

Guillen’s resolution came about following recommendations for one unified border public health region from City of Laredo Health Department Director Hector Gonzalez and the Texas Border Coalition’s health committee Chair Jose Rodriguez.