Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Over the last 30 days of the 81st Texas Legislative session, the successes of the El Paso delegation have unfortunately been diverted by stories that focus too much on personalities, and not enough on the policies that matter to El Paso families.

Like any family, we are not perfect, but I am proud that our community's legislative delegation demonstrated broad-based leadership. This includes Joe Pickett as chair of the powerful Transportation Committee and Joe Moody, who chaired a sub-committee on criminal jurisprudence and was named Freshman of the Year by the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus.

Despite a weakening economy and a near-evenly divided House of Representatives that affected the pace and deliberation of many state wide and local legislative initiatives. I worked closely with my colleagues and local leaders to accomplish goals for El Paso.

And, of course, the last weeks of session were dominated by Republican insistence on passing an unnecessary requirement that properly registered voters would have to show photo identification in addition to a voter's registration card in order to vote. The emphasis on this so-called Voter ID bill -- which was really part of a national Republican strategy to suppress the votes of senior citizens, Latinos and African-Americans -- brought the House's work to a crawl, as many of my fellow Democrats utilized the rules of the House in order to prevent the passage of controversial Voter ID.

Although the end of the legislative session was defined by the fight over Voter ID, I can report that the El Paso delegation worked closely together to improve the lives of our constituents.

On the Appropriations Committee, I served as the leader of the Business and Economic Development subcommittee to secure an additional $20 million for the Skills Development Fund. I also passed House Bill 2169, a local bill for REDCo that allows Skills funds to be used to attract out-of-state businesses to Texas.

I worked on a bipartisan basis with Republican Chairman John Zerwas to ensure funding for the additional 50 slots needed for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for Elderly (PACE) in El Paso.

I also raised issues on border security and worked with Republican Chairman Jim Pitts to pass House Bill 2531, requiring reporting and transparency for the Emerging Technology Fund, a fund that diverted $50 million to Texas A&M without accountability.

Sen. Shapleigh and I authored House Bill 4075/Senate Bill 201, a legislative recommendation from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine to authorize our medical school to participate in the Joint Admissions Medical Program (JAMP). Both bills died on the calendar. However, I was the House Sponsor of SB 1728 and Sen. West and I passed the JAMP legislation. In addition, Sen. Shapleigh and I passed a legislative recommendation from the El Paso County Hospital District to increase the effectiveness of the board.

Rep. Moody and I teamed up to pass an amendment to House Bill 1725 that will bring additional funding to school districts affected by BRAC. This was a recommendation of the El Paso ISD.

And I worked with the House and Senate sponsor of HB 1725 to ensure school districts receiving BRAC families can better provide services under this act.

In addition, Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, and I joined together to amend Senate Bill 956 requiring a feasibility study to determine the need for a law school along the Texas/Mexico Border region.

I believe fighting for the hard-working El Paso families who sent me to be their voice at the Capitol is more important than winning any Austin popularity contests. I may not always do what is popular in Austin, but I will always do what is right for our community and the constituents I serve.

Finally, I have learned a valuable lesson on text messages (lol) and promise to never text message what I don't want to read in the newspaper the next morning.

Norma Chávez is serving her seventh term in the Texas State Legislature. She serves on Appropriations, Appropriations S/C on Business & Economic Development, Appropriations S/C on Stimulus, Calendars, Defense & Veterans Affairs.