The Norma Chavez Blog

Norma Chavez served in the Texas House of Representatives for 14 years (1997 – 2011) and is the first Latina elected to the Texas legislature from El Paso. She is also the first Latina from El Paso to Chair a standing committee in the Texas legislature, serving as the inaugural Chair of the “Border and International Affairs Committee”; is the first Latina in Texas to serve on the two most powerful committees “Appropriations and Calendars Committees” concurrently under two different Texas House Speakers; Chaired an Appropriation Sub-Committee, and was also the first Latina to serve as Vice Chair of the Calendars Committee. Having promised to use her seniority to the fullest, Chavez also served as Vice Chair of Human Services and honorably served on the Higher Education Committee and Financial Institutions Committee. In addition, Texas State Representative Norma Chavez is the first state official to be issued a state official license plate for a motorcycle! Chavez authored and passed more than 50 bills for El Paso, joint-authored and co-authored hundreds of bills with other members of the legislature, passed legislation as House sponsor for a variety of Texas Senators, passed amendments, appropriation riders, and passed hundreds of resolutions during her tenure. She is credited by then Chancellor David Smith, Governor Perry, and Speaker Tom Craddick as the legislator responsible for the first $45 million state appropriation allocated for the Paul Foster School of Medicine. Chavez has received dozens of awards and recognition from local, state and national organizations for her work on behalf of the people of El Paso and citizens of Texas. Prior to being elected to the legislature, Norma Chavez was a Public Action Organizer: for the United Farm Workers of America in Texas organizing marches, pickets, and helping with message development. She launched the grape boycott in El Paso with Richard Chavez; helped organize a broad base grassroots network in Texas for the grape boycott, worked Texas and California farmworker Conventions; worked with California staff to coordinate housing, transportation, meals and logistics for farmworkers marching in the 1994 "Peregrinacion" from Delano to Sacramento California; and assisted with Texas campaigns that included the renaming of schools, streets, highways, and programs for Cesar Chavez in El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, and South Texas. In addition, Chavez worked as an arts advocate and events coordinator, organizing the first “Low Rider Parade” for the opening of the Chicano Arts Resistance and Affirmation Exhibit at the El Paso Museum of Art and the “Charro Parade”. Chavez also booked musical acts in El Paso including Texas Folklife Resources “Accordian Kings” and Grammy Award winners “Café Tacuba” for a farmworker benefit under Texico Productions. Norma Chavez worked with her parents Norman and Connie Chavez at NCN Texaco, a family owned “good-old fashion” gas station, while serving in the legislature. In 2009, Chavez received a Bachelor's Degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. She has author of thenormachavezblog.com. a self titled blog dedicated to observing, writing, exploring with language, politics, current affairs, Latino issues, and life along the Border region.

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