Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Senator Shapleigh sent the following letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry urging him to include expanding the state's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to the list of issues legislators must address during the upcoming special session. Governor Perry announced the need for a special session last week.

Early on, the just-completed session of the Legislature was famously declared the "session of the consumer." Homeowners were heartened by pronouncements from legislators on both sides of the political aisle about the need to address the problems plaguing our insurance system.

Nearly 40,000 small businesses would see their state franchise taxes go away for at least the next two years – an average annual savings of $2,200 – under legislation Gov. Rick Perry approved Tuesday.

Texas lawmakers bobbled the ball on some key transportation matters this year, but they finally took a step toward establishing commuter rail between major cities.

Can we please stop pretending that helping working parents provide health insurance for their children is a ruse for enacting an unwarranted middle-class entitlement?

In a recent interview with Fox Business News, an anchor praised Gov. Rick Perry for just saying no to federal stimulus money.

I’ve seen lives destroyed by drugs, and many neighbors in my hometown of Yamhill, Oregon, have had their lives ripped apart by crystal meth. Yet I find people like Mr. Stamper persuasive when they argue that if our aim is to reduce the influence of harmful drugs, we can do better.

A legal challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court to the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall was declared dead Monday. The justices declined to hear an appeal by the County of El Paso, Texas, to an earlier decision by a U.S. federal court judge that allowed the Bush administration to proceed with construction of the controversial wall.

Jimmie Daw paid the state about $10,000 in taxes last year for his pest-control business in El Paso.

Gov. Rick Perry is being pressured by social conservatives on the State Board of Education and their followers to veto legislation authorizing local school boards to buy electronic textbooks.

When the seniors of the Socorro High School baseball team decided to forego their graduation ceremony last month for the playoffs, little did they know they'd gambled on making history.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa says the South Texas legislative delegation must redouble its efforts to bring more doctoral programs to the region.

Neatly printed signs reading "Don't Kill Texas Businesses With Traffic Congestion" and "Support Local Control" met with hand-drawn signs reading "Texas Not Taxes" and "No Diversions!" at a press conference and rally at the South Steps of the Texas Capitol Friday afternoon.

Texans will vote this fall on a measure that would make nearly a half-billion dollars available to schools such as UTEP that are aiming for national prestige in research.

Before the legislative session ended nearly two weeks ago, state Rep. Bryan Hughes was pretty sure Gov. Rick Perry would call the Legislature back to Austin to take care of unfinished business.

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.

Texas legislators would be wise to back off sunsetting the Texas Department of Transportation until they can unsnarl what is a bureaucratic traffic jam in how best to fund our roadways.

A national study released by Stanford University on Monday said minority students in Texas public charter schools do worse in reading and math than those in traditional public schools.

A breakdown of firings and suspensions for abuse or mistreatment of residents during fiscal year 2008 at each of Texas' 13 residential facilities for the mentally and developmentally disabled

Former Texas Gov. Bill Clements is giving $100 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center, the largest single gift in the institution's history and perhaps the biggest one-time financial pledge to any civic body in Dallas history, UT Southwestern officials will announce Friday.