Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Jane Nelson in the Senate

AUSTIN — In her first term in the Senate in 1993, Jane Nelson admittedly had limited qualifications for her appointment to the Health and Human Services Committee.

She was a mother of five, had spent lots of time around pediatricians and childhood illnesses, knew a thing or two about insurance and had served as an American Cancer Society volunteer, but that was about it.

Sixteen years later, few experts can claim to know their subject area better than Nelson. As chairwoman of the committee for the past decade, the former Arlington schoolteacher has shaped state policy that reaches across a vast social landscape, touching everyone from victims of domestic abuse to struggling Medicaid recipients to out-of-shape schoolchildren.

In the just-ended regular session of the 81st Legislature, Nelson, of Flower Mound, was the Senate’s second-most-prolific bill-passer behind fellow Republican John Carona of Dallas. She eclipsed by far other members of the Tarrant County delegation.

Of 80 bills that she introduced, 38 cleared both houses to land on Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. Several have already been signed into law, and Perry has given no indication that he plans to veto any of the rest. Seven other Nelson measures reached the governor’s desk as amendments to bills.

One landmark bill, which Perry designated as emergency legislation, is designed to improve oversight at state facilities for the elderly and mentally disabled, after a federal investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct. Perry signed the bill Thursday. Another would prohibit school districts from requiring teachers to give minimum grades to failing students.

Capitol 'superstar’

"Jane Nelson is definitely a superstar at the Capitol," said Mike Hailey, editor and publisher of Capitol Inside, an online political newsletter. "She’s definitely somebody you want to have on your side in a fight. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose that fight."

In a pre-adjournment interview in her first-floor Capitol office, Nelson, 57, discussed her Senate career, the sometimes chaotic 2009 session, her family and personal interests, and her political future. She has been mentioned as a possible contender for lieutenant governor, the presiding officer of the Senate, should incumbent David Dewhurst decide to run for another office, possibly the U.S. Senate.

"We’ll just have to see how things emerge when the political season starts," she said. But, when asked about the possibility of a race for lieutenant governor, she added: "There is no other office I would trade for what I’m doing right now. I love being a senator."

Nelson, who is up for re-election in 2010, has come under fire from Tarrant County officials for voting against the local-option-funding measure designed to finance construction of road and rail projects in North Texas. The measure died in the closing days of the Legislature, prompting some supporters to put the blame on those who opposed it.

"I know there were some people who were very disappointed in my vote on that issue," Nelson said. But she defended her position, saying that she and many of her constituents opposed the proposed local gasoline surcharge and other fees.

"I don’t believe that the approach was the right one," she said. "It was very piecemeal and it was very problematic. You can’t have one region tax at one rate, and the next county over at another."

Fast-growing district

Nelson’s Senate District 12, which includes parts of Tarrant and Denton counties, is one of the top three fastest-growing Senate districts in the state and also one of the most Republican: President Barack Obama drew only 36 percent of the vote in 2008. It encompasses all or part of 56 cities, including about 200,000 Fort Worth residents.

Now midway into her fourth term, Nelson is the second-ranking Republican behind Chris Harris of Arlington.

One of the Senate’s prominent conservatives, she strongly supported the hotly debated voter-identification bill that Democrats killed in the House after a five-day parliamentary slowdown. Personable and outgoing, she gets along well with colleagues and has the reputation of being a tireless champion for her many legislative causes.

"Jane has been the same since she got here," said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who entered the chamber the same year. Nelson, she says, is "very focused, very deliberative and knows her subject matter as well as anybody I’ve ever met."

After then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock appointed her to the committee her freshman year, Nelson immediately set out to level her learning curve. She pored over jargon-filled reports, met with bureaucrats and listened attentively at committee hearings. She also reached out to the committee’s diverse constituency by visiting nursing homes, hospitals, domestic violence shelters and other sites.

"There is no question that she’s one of the leaders in the Senate," said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.

'We love that girl’

"We love that girl," said Retha Fielding, a spokeswoman for the Texas Council on Family Violence, which worked with Nelson to produce this year’s domestic violence legislation. "She’s really been a friend. She’s been living with this issue for a while."

The committee has one of the broadest jurisdictions in the Legislature, overseeing four major agencies, several licensing boards and programs including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, children’s and adult protective services and the licensing and regulation of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

In its post-session report card last week rating lawmakers based on their votes on fiscal issues, the conservative Texans for Fiscal Responsibility gave Nelson a score of 93 percent, higher than any other senator.

Nelson, appointed chairwoman in 1999 by Perry, then lieutenant governor, reads every piece of mail that comes into her office, usually at least 100 a day during the legislative session. Another trademark, she says, is being a good listener. "You can’t imagine the great ideas you get from people in the real world who are living with this stuff," she said. "You will find out what the problems are."

Nelson’s office, overlooking the Capitol’s north grounds, is festooned with pictures of her son and four daughters, now grown, and her two grandchildren. Family, she says, is her bedrock, and now that the session is over, she plans to "switch into the mama mode" to help plan the August wedding of a daughter.

Businesswoman is another of her dimensions. She will resume her role as marketing director for Mayday Manufacturing, a Denton aerospace company headed by her husband of 30 years, Mike Nelson.

Nelson acknowledges that she’s come a long way from the days when she graded papers and stood at the front of a classroom. "If you had told me 30 years ago when I was a little teacher that I was going to be a senator and involved in the aerospace industry," she said. "I would not have believed it."

SB 643: Strengthens oversight at state institutions for the elderly and mentally disabled after allegations of abuse.

SB 891: Strengthens the physical education curriculum in public schools and requires daily exercise for pre-kindergarten students.

SB 2033: Prohibits school districts from adopting "no-fail" grading policies that require teachers to give their students minimum grades for schoolwork.

SB 66: Establishes a health insurance pool for children in the child support system.

SB 82 and SB 83: Address domestic violence.

SB 292, SB 346, SB 347 and SB 1328: Strengthen the state’s preparedness for medical, natural or man-made disasters.

SB 279: Prevents a military deployment from being construed as abandonment in a custody hearing.