Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for decades has generated power for its customers by splitting atoms, burning natural gas and capturing the force of falling water. More recently, the San Francisco utility began turning to the sun, wind, boiling geysers and even fermented cow manure to produce electricity.

An amendment added by state Rep. Norma Chavez may have derailed the El Paso county ethics bill that appeared headed for passage in the Texas Legislature. Her amendment is also raising eyebrows. It would prohibit sheriff's deputies from picking up drunk elected officials.

With the House convening at 10 a.m., the barbeque of the Texas Department of Transportation in the House Transportation Committee has come to an end after almost two highly contentious hours.

Back in 2007, when the Legislature and TxDOT were fighting over the main transportation bill of the session, a letter arrived from federal highway regulators at a key point late in the session saying that what lawmakers had in mind might violate federal law. It has happened again.

It sure appears one of our state representatives doesn't want El Paso County to have an enhanced ethics code for its employees. We think such a code is a must.

State Rep. Norma Chavez sends an email yesterday trying to explain her last-minute amendment to the El Paso County ethics bill. You can read it for yourself, but right off the bat, what stands out is her assertion that she isn’t trying to spread “rumors or innuendo.”

Legal immigrants who served in the U.S. military would be exempted from paying tuition and fees at public universities under a bill the Texas House tentatively approved Monday.

Senate Bill 643, a version of which has passed the Senate, calls for an independent ombudsman to monitor the 13 institutions known as state schools that are home to nearly 5,000 Texans. It also mandates video cameras in common areas and improved staff training. And it seeks to change the name of state schools — which are residences, not schools — to "state supported living centers" (the Senate version would change the name to "state developmental centers").

Like motorists racing through a school zone, state lawmakers are moving at breakneck pace, trying to transform the Texas Department of Transportation. We fear disaster is at the very next turn.

During the same two-year period that workers at the Corpus Christi State School forced mentally disabled residents into late-night "fight clubs," dozens of other employees were fired for serious abuse and neglect, including whipping a resident on the face with a belt and not trying to revive a resident who hanged herself, state records show.

State lawmakers who are dug in against the idea of voter-approved transportation taxes have bought the line that Texas already brings in enough money to beat back traffic congestion.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and state Rep. Marisa Marquez honored Maria Ruiz with special resolutions Monday on the floors of the Texas Senate and House.

Payday lenders are working hard to bottle up a bill in a Texas House committee that would allow the state to enforce a federal law protecting our military personnel from high-cost payday and auto title loans.

Proposed federal climate change legislation may clean the air, but it won’t come cheap for Texans, according to a study by the state’s main electric grid operator.

They can listen to the consumer advocates trying to look out for the Average Joes, who have so little money they need to get payday loans with sky-high interest rates.

With time running out and deadlines looming, hundreds of bills face certain death in the remaining 2 1/2 weeks of the 2009 legislative session, including many affecting North Texas.

With lawmakers poised to make dramatic changes to the state's school accountability system, it's critical that they continue setting high expectations for all Texas students and hold schools accountable for meeting those expectations.

When I prosecuted Charles Chatman for aggravated rape in 1981, I was certain I had the right man. His case was one of my first important felony cases as a Dallas County assistant district attorney. Chatman was convicted in a court of law by a jury of his peers. They, like me, were convinced of his guilt.

Texas health insurers pay care providers just 72 cents of each dollar they collect in premiums from small employers, with the rest going to overhead, profits and taxes, according to a study by a think tank that advocates for the poor.

Texas officials said Thursday they are near an agreement with federal investigators on fixing problems in the state's 13 large residential facilities for the mentally disabled, where dozens of people have died under questionable circumstances and hundreds of employees have been disciplined for mistreating residents.