State Sen. Jane Nelson helped shape education, health care and state budgets during more than three decades in public office. Nelson was a North Texas school teacher raising five daughters when she won a seat on the State Board of Education. She would later say that her biggest accomplishment on the panel was helping to correct some 5,000 errors in school history books and working to pass higher standards for all textbooks.
After two terms on the state board starting after the election of 1988, Nelson won a seat in the Texas Senate. Nelson was a Republican back when the Legislature was dominated by Democrats, as it had been for much of the past century.
As a member of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, including four years as chair, Nelson played leadership roles in overhauling the state's foster care system, expanding access to mental health care, and shepherding more than 30 bills into law to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
Perhaps more significantly was Nelson's eight years chairing the Senate Finance Committee, the first woman to hold that post. Besides the office of lieutenant governor, who presides over the upper chamber, the finance committee chairmanship is considered one of the most coveted assignment in the Senate. That is in no small measure because the chair runs the process on the Senate side for crafting the state budget each legislative session.
One of the major projects greenlighted by Nelson was the establishment of the Cancer Research & Prevention Institute of Texas, or CPRIT, a $6 billion, 20-year initiative that has become the largest investment of its kind in U.S. history.
Along the way, Nelson was also the force behind some lesser-known but far-reaching initiatives in the Legislature. One warm and fuzzy example is the 2021 law that exempts the prices and fees for adopting pets from nonprofit animal shelters and similar organizations from the sales tax. Nelson said she filed the legislation to help "connect more animals to people who will love and care for them."
And lest anyone accuse the chair of the finance committee of foregoing needed state revenue to run state operations, Nelson was ready with a fiscally responsible comeback.
Any lost revenue, she said at the time, would likely be recouped by the sales tax collected on pet food, treats, leashes, collars, per carriers, chew toys, cat beds, kitty litter, dog costumes, obedience classes, more obedience classes and all of the other must-haves that are bound to be purchased by the newly adopted pets' human companions.
A more serious measure came much earlier in her career, and it would prove to be a life-saver. In 2001, on her second try to push the bill over the finish line, Nelson carried the legislation to outlaw open containers of alcohol in automobiles. "We have the worst traffic safety record in the nation, and this bill will prevent tragedies on our roadways," said Nelson when presenting her legislation all those years ago.
As secretary of state, a position she was appointed to in late 2022 by Gov. Greg Abbott, Nelson's chief responsibility was to administer elections. She vacates office four months before the November elections. A successor had not been announced by Friday.
Nelson, when she announced her upcoming resignation at 74 on Tuesday, gave no reason for wanting to step down or what lies ahead for her. Nor did the governor's office.
"It has been my goal to ensure that voting in Texas is secure, accessible and fair," Nelson said as her parting words. "We have worked extensively to ensure accurate voter rolls and to educate voters about what they need to know to vote with confidence."