Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

State leaders urged calm in the face of growing concern Wednesday about the swine flu that closed some schools, prompted widespread cancellation of school-related activities and led the governor to declare a statewide emergency to free up 850,000 antiviral doses from federal stockpiles.

A bill to help more Texas universities gain national research prominence easily passed the House on Friday. But the funding for the competitive grant program – estimated at $500 million over the next two years – still must be added to the budget, a tough hurdle with the state in a tight financial situation.

Connecting El Paso and Las Cruces to the Rail Runner Commuter System that now runs between the Albuquerque area and Santa Fe could cost up to $735 million. That was the price quoted to the El Paso and Las Cruces city councils by officials with the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

Shapleigh said the amount is closer to $250 million because the $52 million figure "does not include 250 acres of contiguous property owned by Asarco but not located at the (main) 100-acre smelter site."

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been infiltrated by special interests and rendered ineffective when it comes to standing up for Texas citizens, according to a group of Senate Democrats.

President Obama has made the smart grid a major plank of his "rebuilding America" plan, viewing it as a way not only to eliminate blackouts and power failures, but also to create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Huge political hurdles impede efforts to end judicial elections in Texas.

In Texas, access to health care is rationed by ZIP code. If you live on the border or in the state's vast rural areas, you'll have trouble getting to a family doctor.

“The perception out there is that you have a point of view and you are using this bully pulpit to take the rest of the state there,” Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, told Chairman Don McLeroy. McElroy was recently reappointed as chair by Gov. Rick Perry and on Wednesday went before the Senate Committee on Nominations.

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and two other state senators urged Gov. Rick Perry on Monday to order a top-to-bottom review of the state’s environmental regulatory agency amid charges that is too close to industry and lax in enforcing pollution standards.

Proposals like concealed weapons on campus are knee-jerk reactions to a rare event, not an effective means of preventing another tragedy. The Texas Council of Faculty Senates is against it. One college police chief called the proposal "just crazy when you think about it." A few days ago, hundreds of University of Texas students walked out of class to protest the proposal at the state Capitol, on Virginia Tech's two-year anniversary.

A proposal that would limit the authority of public university governing boards to raise tuition cleared the Senate Higher Education Committee today and now goes to the full Senate.

Gov. Rick Perry should review the state's environmental agency from top to bottom to ensure it is protecting the health of Texans and not the bottom line of polluting industries, Democratic senators said Monday.

Citing examples of ex parte communications, the revolving door between the commission and industry, failure to enforce federal laws and a pattern of decisions in which the commission overrules its own scientists, the three lawmakers claimed unethical — and sometimes illegal — activities at the TCEQ were undermining the agency’s core mission.

Several Democratic senators are calling on Gov. Rick Perry to clean up the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which they say is beset by conflicts of interest and undue industry influence.

Texas Sen. Eliot Shapleigh teamed up with senators from all over Texas at a press conference in Austin Monday, calling on Gov. Rick Perry to take a look at the business practices of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Four Senate Democrats called this morning for a top-to-bottom review of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, saying the governor needs to intervene to clean-up an agency almost wholly owned by polluters. Sens. Wendy Davis, Kirk Watson, Rodney Ellis, and Eliot Shapleigh took turns reviewing the litany of TCEQ failures - from potentially illegal meetings between a TCEQ commissioner and Asarco representatives to the denial of public hearings on cement kilns.

A year after the two-step method that Texas Democrats use to pick presidential delegates sparked an uproar among supporters of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, state lawmakers have no plans to monkey with the system.

Study after study has concluded that Texas needs to increase financial aid dramatically if it hopes to boost enrollment and graduation rates for low-income students, the fastest-growing segment of the college-age population and the one that includes many Hispanics and African Americans.

Eddie Aldrete, the senior vice president of International Bank of Commerce and a ranking member of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce told the House Committee on State Affairs on Tuesday that Texas’ reputation as one of the best sites for businesses would suffer if House bill 48 was enacted.