Norma Chavez

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Norma Chavez
Texas State Representative Norma Chavez
- Texas House Member
In office January 9, 1997 – present
Preceded by	Nancy McDonald
Born	June 29, 1960 El Paso, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Realtor

Norma Chavez (born 29 June 1960) is currently serving her sixth term as a Democratic member in the Texas House of Representatives representing District 76 which includes part of El Paso County. An El Paso native, Rep. Chávez grew up as a young woman in the Tejas Addition and then Zia Village neighborhood, where she lives today. Rep. Chávez is a community activist, businesswoman, and small business advocate. She is currently the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Calendars, and serves on the House Committee on Appropriations and House Committee on Financial Institutions. Norma Chávez is the first Latina elected to the Texas Legislature from El Paso.

Contents 1 Legislative career 2 Community Service 3 Criticism 4 Election History 4.1 2006 4.1.1 2004 4.1.2 2002 4.1.3 2000 4.1.4 1998 4.2 1996 5 References

[edit] Legislative career

During the 80th Regular Legislative Session, Rep. Chávez passed 14 bills and amendments that benefit El Paso and the state. She successfully passed legislation that will establish 4 new courts in El Paso County. Also, she passed legislation that expands the Public Safety Commission from 3 to 5 members. As a result of 3 sessions of hard work, Rep. Chávez passed legislation that will let Texas compete with its neighboring states by allowing local communities to offer an exemption on goods-in-transit. She passed legislation to streamline administrative processes at the Health and Human Services Commission by requiring the commissioner to develop guidelines and standards to allow for the use of electronic signatures. Rep. Chávez passed legislation that will require the Texas Bond Review Board to comprehensively review the effect of new debt authorizations and appropriations on debt services on the state's future capacity.

As the only person from the El Paso Delegation to serve on a budget-writing committee this session, Rep. Chávez secured the $48 million needed to open the Texas Tech Medical School in El Paso. Additionally, she removed a bureaucratic and unnecessary contingency measure that would have required medical school officials to go before the state to ask for the remaining $18 million needed to open the school. She allocated the $9 million needed to restore solvency to the Fire Fighters' Pension Fund. Rep. Chávez also secured the $1 million needed in debt service to issue $12 million in bonds for the Economically Distressed Areas Program (EDAP). EDAP helps colonias build water and wastewater services in colonias.

In previous sessions, Chávez passed legislation that increased funding for the Skills Development program, a highly-successful job retraining program, from $25 million to $40 million over the next biennium. Since its inception in 1996, the Skills Development program has helped over 2,500 employers create almost 55,000 jobs and has retrained about 85,000 workers. Rep. Chávez also passed legislation to require local workforce development boards to include financial literacy education in worker retraining programs offered by the Texas Workforce Commission. Additionally, she also passed legislation that improves the inspections of farm worker housing.

Rep. Chávez along with Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Texas Civil Rights Project, ACLU, LULAC, MALDEF and many other organizations, stood up against and defeated legislation filed by a special interest group that would have disenfranchised over 75,000 voters from voting in El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 manager elections.

Rep. Chávez filed legislation and led the historical initiative in the Texas House of Representatives, declaring the first Texas holiday honoring a Latino, for civil rights activist and labor leader César Chávez. Chávez also honored Cesar Chávez by passing legislation that designated Loop 375 as the César Chávez Border Highway. Rep. Chávez also filed and passed "the coyote bill" creating a state penalty for those individuals who use Texas highways, lands, and waterways to transport undocumented workers for a profit. She passed an amendment to the Texas Constitution which prohibits home equity lenders from redlining in Texas. In addition, Rep. Chávez introduced and passed a floor amendment to protect farm workers' right to know when pesticides are used and passed legislation protecting temporary workers from discrimination. Her initiatives in the field of health care include the authoring and passage of legislation establishing the Border Health Institute, legislation creating the Texas Tech Diabetes Research Center as well as legislation creating the Border Telemedicine Pilot Project. She also passed legislation creating a NAFTA Impact Zone and providing technology training for workers displaced by NAFTA.

Rep. Chávez passed legislation that created the Center of Law and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Additionally, she passed legislation that created El Paso County Criminal Courts at Law No. 1 and No. 2.

She passed historic legislation to expand the Texas Transportation Commission from 3 to 5 members, this increased border representation on transportation issues.

In total, Chávez has authored 37 bills that the Legislature passed in the five legislative sessions she has served House District 76. Chávez has also been a Joint-Author on 54 pieces of passing legislation, and a Co-Author on 47 passing bills. Additionally, she sponsored 16 successful Senate-authored bills and she has been a Joint or Co-Sponsor on 19 successful Senate-authored pieces of Legislation. Chávez has also authored 69 amendments that were adopted, and she has passed more than 500 congratulatory, memorial, and recognition resolutions in her nearly 10 years of service to the citizens of El Paso.

[edit] Community Service

Rep. Chávez has served on the Executive Committees of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce and the Business Opportunities Council and is currently a member of both the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

Since 1990, Rep. Chávez has fought for clean air and fair public policy. Her efforts ensured that the Federal Clean Air Act and subsequent Texas laws protect citizens and the environment while providing common sense air strategies. In 1995, as a citizen, Rep. Chávez organized an effective citizen lobby, organizing 170 small businesses through coalitions with the legislative members, small and big business interests, and citizens. She was instrumental in the passage of state legislation which de-centralized automobile emissions testing. As a result of her efforts, a balance between business and the environment was achieved which helped save thousands of Texas jobs and small businesses, while still promoting a clean environment.

In order to protect residents from any potential health and environmental hazards, Rep. Chávez organized efforts to prevent nuclear waste from being disposed at Sierra Blanca,

A former public-action organizer for the United Farm Workers, Rep. Chávez has organized public support for a fair and just food supply and for issues affecting migrant farm workers. Chávez is an effective grassroots organizer and strategist and has received training by the Industrial Areas Foundation.

A strong advocate for programs targeting at-risk youth, Rep. Chávez was a board member of Community Alliance Promoting Education Alternatives (CAPEA), an organization which seeks positive intervention and prevention in the lives of at-risk youth. Rep. Chávez, an avid arts aficionado, is a former board member of the Friends of the El Paso Museum of Art.

[edit] Criticism

In a word: clueless. She doesn't know the first lesson of legislative survival: Lead, follow, or get out of the way. She can't lead, won't follow, and absolutely refuses to get out of the way. She set the tone for her career in 1997, her freshman year, by promising her vote to both candidates for the head of the Mexican American Caucus. You might think she'd learned something since then — even an amoeba picks up things by osmosis — but she continues to bumble her way through.

– Texas Monthly, Ten Worst Legislators, July 1999

[edit] Election History

[edit] 2006

Texas General Election, 2006: House District 76[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	12,886	100.00
Majority			12,886	100.00
Turnout			12,886
	Democratic hold

Democratic primary, 2006: House District 76[2]
Candidate		Votes	%	±%
✓	Norma Chavez (Incumbent)	6,817	70.10
	Martha "Marty" Reyes	2,907	29.89
Turnout		9,724

[edit] 2004

Texas General Election, 2004: House District 76[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	25,010	100.00
Majority			25,010	100.00
Turnout			25,010
	Democratic hold

[edit] 2002

Texas General Election, 2002: House District 76[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	17,387	100.00
Majority			17,387	100.00
Turnout			17,387
	Democratic hold

[edit] 2000

Texas General Election, 2000: House District 76[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	22,335	100.00
Majority			22,335	100.00
Turnout			22,335
	Democratic hold

[edit] 1998

Texas General Election, 1998: House District 76[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	15,586	100.00
Majority			15,586	100.00
Turnout			15,586
	Democratic hold

[edit] 1996

Texas General Election, 1996: House District 76[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Norma Chavez	22,848	100.00
Majority			22,848	100.00
Turnout			22,848
	Democratic hold

Democratic primary runoff, 1996: House District 76[8]
Candidate		Votes	%	±%
✓	Norma Chavez	6,665	64.00
	Ignacio "Nacho" Padilla	3,749	35.99
Turnout		10,414

Democratic primary, 1996: House District 76[9]
Candidate		Votes	%	±%
	Angie Barajas	1,373	10.96
	James M. Callan	1,619	12.93
	Norma Chavez	4,899	39.12
	Ignacio "Nacho" Padilla	4,630	36.97
Turnout		12,521

[edit] References

• House biography
• District 76 candidate debate article from El Paso Times

Preceded by Nancy McDonald

Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 76 (El Paso) 1997 – present

Incumbent