Norma Chavez

Infobox_Governor


name= Norma Chavez
|caption= Texas State Representative Norma Chavez
order=-
office=Texas House Member
term_start= January 9, 1997
term_end="present"
predecessor= Nancy McDonald
successor="incumbent"
birth_date= June 29, 1960
birth_place= El Paso, Texas
death_date=
death_place=
family= Norman Chavez (Father), Connie Chavez (Mother)
profession=Realtor
party= Democratic
religion=
footnotes=

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.

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.

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.

Criticism

Election History

2006

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 2006: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 2006 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 12,886
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 12,886
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 12,886
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

Election box begin no party
title=Democratic primary, 2006: House District 76 [cite web | url = http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe | title = 2006 Democratic Party Primary Election | accessdate = 2007-08-14 | publisher = Office of the Secretary of State (Texas)] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Norma Chavez (Incumbent)
votes = 6,817
percentage = 70.10
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Martha "Marty" Reyes
votes = 2,907
percentage = 29.89
change = Election box turnout no party
votes = 9,724
percentage =
change =

2004

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 2004: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 2004 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 25,010
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 25,010
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 25,010
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

2002

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 2002: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 2002 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 17,387
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 17,387
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 17,387
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

2000

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 2000: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 2000 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 22,335
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 22,335
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 22,335
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

1998

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 1998: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 1998 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 15,586
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 15,586
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 15,586
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

1996

Election box begin
title=Texas General Election, 1996: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 1996 General Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 15 August 2007)] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 22,848
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box majority
votes = 22,848
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box turnout
votes = 22,848
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)

Election box begin no party
title=Democratic primary runoff, 1996: House District 76 [cite web | url = http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe | title = 1996 Democratic Party Primary Runoff Election | accessdate = 2007-08-14 | publisher = Office of the Secretary of State (Texas)] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 6,665
percentage = 64.00
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Ignacio "Nacho" Padilla
votes = 3,749
percentage = 35.99
change = Election box turnout no party
votes = 10,414
percentage =
change =

Election box begin no party
title=Democratic primary, 1996: House District 76 [Office of the Secretary of State. 1996 Democratic Party Primary Election. http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe (accessed 14 August 2007)] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Angie Barajas
votes = 1,373
percentage = 10.96
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = James M. Callan
votes = 1,619
percentage = 12.93
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Norma Chavez
votes = 4,899
percentage = 39.12
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Ignacio "Nacho" Padilla
votes = 4,630
percentage = 36.97
change = Election box turnout no party
votes = 12,521
percentage =
change =

References

* [http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist76/chavez.htm House biography]
* [http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060129/NEWS0201/601290352/1001 District 76 candidate debate] article from "El Paso Times"