Kudos to NewspaperTree.com for keeping an Austin bureau this legislative session when most news outlets are cutting Austin staff. Your coverage made El Paso’s news more robust, broader and deeper. And I like Ben Wright—he’s a bright kid—with a keen eye honed by watching the British Parliament. He’s got a masters’ from King’s College—in American politics.

His insight into El Paso’s isolation is accurate. I especially liked his metaphor of the Arab/Christian from Israel. I just wish he spent more time in the Texas Senate.

One even as educated as Wright, here on a six-month internship from Britain, is not likely to see or understand the context and intricacies of passing bills in the last large state of the Deep South.

Let's cover the basics of El Paso Politics 101. We are 250 miles from anywhere. It is very hard to build a coalition from here. Our natural base is with the people, culture and politics of the Camino Real corridor—not the values of the old Confederacy. Having scores of targets on FBI lists makes it even harder—a legacy dating back to years ago when a handful here made public servants into handmaidens for their private gain.

With only months on the job, Wright's session analysis lacks the context of some history—local and state—and the sharing of how real work gets done in the Senate.

More than any Senate office, we work the process here to deliver a unified voice and vision in Austin. The Texas Tech Medical School in El Paso is an example of how that works. Basically, that work started in the Court of Inquiry and birthed during the El Paso Economic Summit of 1998. Over the years, we worked with Democrats and Republicans on bills, appropriations, foundations, symposiums, even traffic signage to make the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) a reality. From it came a roadmap for change that continues to this day.

During this session, more bills and appropriations to grow our MCA passed into law. As we see it, the Summit of 1998 was the beginning of the end of a 40-year slide into being America’s poorest big city. Over the last decade, El Paso has gone from an economic wreck to a rising economic engine, with unemployment numbers dropping every year.

Every session, we do consensus work just like that. Last year, with the City, County and Chamber, we organized the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process to deal with health and human service issues stemming from 67,000 new troops and dependents coming to El Paso. We hosted a trip to San Antonio to see how other towns have achieved success.

Several years ago we organized the community response to Sensenbrenner’s Immigration offensive—and put a Border Coalition in place to articulate a broad labor and security voice that was lacking at the state and national levels. Two years ago we asked a group of community leaders to tackle the systemic issue of public corruption. During one interim, we worked with mobility groups to build an regional mobility authority (RMA) strong enough to complete our Loop.

As a result of each initiative, key bills and appropriations moved this session. And, in the case of the awful and racist anti-immigrant bills, we successfully led the fight in the Senate to kill each and every one.

Passing good bills or killing bad bills in the Senate is an art Wright does not know. Much of our legislation is crafted weeks before session and tucked into other bills. S.B. 11, the omnibus anti cartel bill is an example. At our request, Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) brought the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee to El Paso twice. We exchanged dozens of emails on aspects of cartel activity to craft a response that strengthened the Department of Public Safety's (DPS) general intelligence gathering, intelligence gathering from prisons and forensic work. Carona’s S.B. 11, loaded with dozens of our ideas and others', passed the Senate, but died like many bills due to the meltdown in the House. Eventually, we voted to help Senator Carona roll S.B. 11 into H.B. 2086 by Representative Joe Moody via amendment late at night.

Here’s the reality: Representative Moody was not yet elected when the research was done for S.B. 11, and Wright was not yet working in Austin for NewspaperTree.com. Is Wright right to criticize us for educating El Pasoans via press releases about this good work?

What about our bills during this session?

I make no apology for calling a point of order when Senate Republicans led by Lt. Governor Dewhurst and Senator Williams changed our chamber's rules to push the divisive and Voter ID. We attacked a blatant grab for power by calling it what it was. Democrats who will not fight Voter ID, anti-immigration bills and other Karl Rove-era initiatives with tactics like points of order don’t deserve to be there.

Did my actions hurt our ability to push legislation throughout the rest of the session? Let's compare: in the Senate alone, our office had 51 pieces of legislation that passed out of the full Senate. Compare that to other prominent Senate Democrats: Senator Rodney Ellis (Houston) had 32 bills pass, Senator Leticia Van de Putte (San Antonio) had 50 and Senator Kirk Watson (Austin), whose "book" Wright suggests I borrow, passed 54 bills.

Here are just a few of our concepts of state-wide importance that are now on the Governor’s desk:

-- Tier One: Our S.B. 1564, which allowed for challenge funding to create more Tier One universities in the state passed as H.B. 51 by Representative Dan Branch (R- Dallas). We first started Tier One work with HCR 159 from last session. The 2010-11 budget approved by the Legislature includes $50 million for the emerging universities in addition to their normal appropriations. The $50 million would be parceled out based on which schools raise the most money from private donations for enhancing research and recruiting faculty members.

-- Boarding Homes: Our office has been working on this issue with Representative Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) for the last four years. Building on legislation from the 80th legislative session, Rep. Menendez and I successfully passed H.B. 216, which I sponsored. H.B. 216 will give local governments the authority to license and regulate adult "boarding homes" for the mentally or physically disabled and the elderly, which are currently unregulated under Texas law. In addition, our office filed S.B. 1521dealing with the same issue. S.B. 1521 passed the full Senate and the House Committee on Human Services recommended S.B. 1521 for the House Local and Consent Calendar. Our office chose not to have the Senate bill placed on the last House Local and Consent Calendar because we were able to move the House bill much more quickly in the Senate chamber. This is just another example of collaborative work that our office continuously engages in—work that is not readily apparent if one does not spend the time to delve into an issue.

-- State Schools: The Department of Justice (DOJ) had 13 state schools under investigation for abuse and neglect. Last December, the DOJ attributed these systemic issues to high staff attrition and vacancy rates for direct care staff and clinical professionals. Last session, we worked with Senator Jane Nelson and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst to put $49 million in the budget to hire almost 1,700 new state school employees. During this session, the legislature passed S.B. 643, the emergency legislation to address some of the issues brought to light by the DOJ. In addition, the budget included $200 million in state general revenue to reduce waiting lists for community services by almost 8,000 in the next two years. To meet the terms of the settlement with the DOJ, the Legislature also added $48 million to the budget, primarily to hire and train staff. An amendment by our office and Representative Abel Herrero (D-Robstown) will require these schools undergo an independent audit of the resident-to-direct care staff ratio and the adequacy of training. For our efforts on services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a Dallas Morning News article published last week recognizes our office as one of six major legislative players in improving disability services in the state during this past session.

-- Stopping the spread of colonias: Working with the County of El Paso, builders, the Municipal League and Urban Counties Coalition, our office and Representative Marisa Marquez passed H.B. 2833, which is the first bill ever to fight the spread of colonias by enforcing uniformed building code standards unincorporated areas of Texas Border counties.

-- Protecting Texas' Charitable Trusts: This "orphan trusts" bill, S.B. 200, which allows for in-state tuition for veterans and military dependents, passed as S.B. 297.

-- Special Funding for BRAC students: Our S.B. 196, developed by the Senate BRAC subcommittee I chair, was amended onto the public school finance bill, H.B. 3646 by Representative Scott Hochberg (D- Houston). The bill was developed during last session with school districts in El Paso, San Antonio and Killeen. The bill will allow for a special funding allotment for students who are moving to Texas as a result of BRAC and students who have a parent deployed in an active combat zone.

It should be noted that Hochberg's H.B. 3646 also included two of our bills relating to extending financial literacy programs in schools, S.B. 197, which expands an existing financial literacy pilot program from 25 to 100 public schools and S.B. 199, which requires that regional Education Service Center (ESCs) offer training and assistance in providing instruction in personal financial literacy.

Wright incorrectly reported these bills as having died in the House despite the fact that their passage was included in a press release he himself cites in his article. Had Wright more carefully read our press releases, he might have noticed.

The "debacle," as Wright puts it, over the delegation's storm water legislation was not as "clear cut" as he makes it and our office in no way "clogged up" those bills. Our S.B. 874 and S.B. 1522 passed out of the Senate one week before their House counterparts. They were referred to a House committee on April 20, 2009 while Chavez's bill wasn't referred until a full week later and Pickett's on May 12. Given that our bills were in fact the ones to move into the other chamber first, the usual procedure is that they move first.

More importantly, Representative Chente Quintanilla and I worked hard on clean ups during the Storms of 2006, met with the PSB, FEMA and the City in countless sessions to craft solutions to longstanding infrastructure deficits, and pass bills to create the storm water district in the first place, and as such, understood how best to fix it. In Austin, the tradition is to respect that work. To send a bill over, send a press release with it, claim credit for an issue you have not worked, then route it to a Senator from Brownsville breaks not only longstanding Senate tradition, but makes those involved lose respect in the eyes of colleagues.

It must also be noted that both the Pickett and Chavez bills had serious defects. Chavez's H.B. 2172 did not amend the original statute on municipal drainage utility systems, but rather confused the process by creating an entirely new provision in local government code to exempt the county and school districts from fees. Pickett's H.B. 2173 directed the Public Service Board (PSB) to exempt the county and school districts rather than just outright exempting them by state law like universities were exempted in 2007. The PSB wanted the legislature to directly exempt the county and school districts in statute; they did not want to have to take additional action at the local level, as Pickett's bill would have required them to do. Both Ysleta and El Paso ISD also objected to specific language in both of these bills that would have legally obligated them to pay the PSB for charges incurred before the bill took effect, all of which was perfectly clear to those of us who had worked the issues for several years.

Wright was incorrect when he wrote that the disagreement "jeopardized" both bills because of the battle over Voter ID in the House. S.B. 874 was sent to the Governor on May 20, well before the House meltdown over Voter ID. Had he made it to the Senate to visit on both bills—the truth might have made it into his story.

This session, our office also secured an additional $12.3 million in the state's budget for CPS caseworkers and $41.9 million to increase funding for Communities in Schools. Side by side with Senator Carona, we took every opportunity to fund highways and mobility that are so key to creating jobs. Our office's amendments to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) sunset bill, H.B. 300, would have created a rail division in the Department, moved reporting requirements in connection with the transportation of hazardous materials by a railroad to TxDOT, and allowed for the creation of tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZs) across the state to fund future rail projects. All of these concepts made it into the final bill because the bill's authors thought they were important. Carona on numerous occasions noted how he wanted me included on the bill's conference committee because of my expertise and how instrumental I was in moving the bill to its final form.

What about our own delegation agenda? The El Paso delegation made good on several of the goals we laid out in January.

-- We secured $48 million base budget for the new Texas Tech medical school and an additional $17 million for new clinical faculty.

-- To reform the Central Appraisal District (CAD), an amendment added by our office onto H.B. 1030 by Representative Bill Callegari (R-Katy) mandates that Texas' largest counties—including El Paso—launch a pilot program for electronic protests of property tax appraisals.

-- To increase funding to Texas' mental health system, in addition to passage of S.B. 643 described above, the states' budget includes $200 million in state general revenue.

-- To improve public education funding formulas, H.B. 3646 will direct $1.9 billion of new money into Texas' public schools and gives Texas teachers an across-the-board pay raise of at least $800.
We passed legislation to help recruit and retain new health professionals for the 67,000 new troops and dependents expected at Fort Bliss.

-- Our office's S.B. 202 will require the Texas Medical Board to grant a provisional license to practice medicine in certain locations to applicants who meet requirements relating to licensure outside Texas, pass a recognized examination, and are sponsored by a licensed physician.

-- H.B. 3674 by Representative Senfronia Thompson (D- Houston) and cosponsored by me allows foreign-trained physician applicants to more easily apply for licensure in Texas (This House bill as it passed is identical to a bill that our office filed, S.B. 2390).

-- H.B. 2154by Representative Al Edwards (D- Houston) and cosponsored by me will give doctors $160,000 in loan repayment monies for serving in medically-underserved areas, including El Paso.

Our office is very proud of our record—from this and past sessions.

Just before this session, I was honored as the Public Official of the Year by the El Paso branch of the National Association of Social Workers. In 2007, I was given the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) Matt Garcia Public Service Award for my work on immigration issues and issues affecting Texas' Mexican-American community. In 2005, Texas Monthly named me the conscience of the Senate. In 2003, the Texas Equity Center named me a "Champion For School Children" for our office's work on improving schools. In the same year, Center for Digital Government, a national group, cited our office's work in developing and expanding the TexasOnline state portal, computers in schools and E Vets, the Veterans Web site of Texas.

I have also been recognized with the Friend of Education Award from the Texas Council for the Social Studies. In the past, I have been named Legislator of the Year by the American School Health Association, as well as by the Mexican American Bar Association, the Hispanic Journal, Texas Pharmacy Association, Texas Sierra Club, and the Texas American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

I think this record speaks for itself. Unless more Democrats act boldly in word and deed, Texans will remain captives of right wing interests that reject CHIP for kids, public schools for students and affordable college as an American dream. In a state that is first in dropouts and last in children with health insurance, Texas needs more offices like ours.

Finally, let’s talk about personalities. For too many, politics is entertainment—and the drama, not the policy, is the story. As has always happened, voters in El Paso will sort out who did the work, what happened and who they want to lead. From our first day in Austin, we posted a sign for all to see that says “This office is owned by the people of El Paso" and that light is what guides us every day.

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Shapleigh represents Texas Senate District 29.