For the second year, the Plano Chamber of Commerce will host a meeting for members and the community to hear results and opinions on the recently completed state legislative session.

On June 25 the chamber will host the 81st Legislative session wrap-up reception at Gleneagles Country Club. In 2007, the chamber hosted a similar event featuring the same speakers. Guest speakers for the 2009 event will be State Sen. Florence Shapiro and State Reps. Brain McCall, Jerry Madden and Ken Paxton.

If Texas were its own country (this thought usually goes over real well in most parts of the state), we would have the highest gross domestic product per person in the world right now.
Most Texans think that is the way it should be and I couldn't agree more.

Based on the latest U.S. Department of Commerce estimates for 2007 and in direct comparison with the United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada, Texas tops the charts at No. 1 in productivity per person.

That's the good news.

The troubling news, however, is that when comparing the rate of growth in GDP per person since 1980, we're tied for 10th with France.

And, as you may suspect, China and India are outpacing us. Unfortunately, so are Brazil, Spain and Italy.

State Sen. Florence Shapiro and State Rep. Rob Eissler have prepared bills that are on the right track to equipping our students, and our economy, to continue being powerhouses of productivity.

The good news for the former Plano mayor and 16-year Senate veteran is that she had a session full of accomplishments that were major enough to draw comparisons to the starring role she'd played in the landmark school finance battles earlier this decade.

By Jim Vertuno
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas - Registered sex offenders in Texas would have to list their e-mail addresses, cell phone numbers and any Internet IDs to law enforcement under a bill moving its way through the Legislature.

Austin Business Journal
A new study shows that Texas' creative sector is growing faster and paying higher wages than jobs in other arenas. But the study warns that more funding is needed to continue that momentum.

Texas Insider
Austin -The Texas Senate approved Sen. Nichols' (R-Jacksonville) bill to reform the way private toll road contracts are issued.

By Jo Lee Ferguson, special to the Longview News-Journal
Robert Floyd, chairman of the Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education and executive director of the Texas Music Educators Association, said several proposals before the Legislature could affect fine arts education.

By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
Lisa Ashmore became a teacher in Texas despite failing to meet one of the most basic requirements - having a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.

Dave Montgomery, Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Politex blog
AUSTIN - State Sen. Florence Shapiro is touting a newly-released a new poll showing her with the highest name identification of any of the four Republicans in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in next year's Republican primary.

PRESS RELEASE
Plano State Senator's Statewide Name ID more than twice that of 3 other announced Republican candidates

Collin County BusinessPress
State Senator Florence Shapiro's Senate Bill 175 has passed the full Senate, 24-7, and now heads to the House for consideration. The bill was designed to bring relief to talented high school students applying for college, allowing them to be considered based on more than just a single criteria of class rank.

By Enrique Rangel | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
AUSTIN - The path Texas Tech and six other major universities in the state must follow to become national research institutes - commonly known as tier-one or flagship schools - took a major turn Monday as the Texas Senate unanimously approved a bill that would set up a fund to help those schools get the prestigious designation.

Christy Hoppe, Dallas Morning News - Trailblazers blog
A Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission would be created under a bill passed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday. The 18-member commission would meet four times a year to provide educational materials to schools and colleges, help implement course studies and awareness programs.

KXAN-TV (Austin)
Testing starts this week as bill awaits debate

Dallas Morning News
Sen. Juan Hinojosa surely spoke for many Texas families when he told an overflow crowd yesterday in Austin that college costs are the primary complaint he hears from his South Texas constituents. Indeed, this very day, families across the state are waiting to see what legislators do about tuition rates before deciding where to send their high school graduates next fall.

mysanantonio.com
The time has come to reconsider the state's public school accountability system.

Editorial | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
In crafting a high-stakes testing and accountability system in 1993, the Legislature aimed to improve student performance and hold public schools accountable for graduating college-ready students. Certainly, those were lofty goals that proved beneficial for schools. It's now time to upgrade the accountability system that has become so punitive and cumbersome that it is collapsing under its own weight — taking down some urban schools and inducing fear and dread among many students and educators.

By Kate Alexander | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Texas high school students who aren't headed to college need better opportunities to prepare for jobs even before they graduate, legislators said this week as they introduced two bills to bolster career and technical education.

By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
wslater@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN -- State Sen. Florence Shapiro of Dallas is considering setting up an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate in anticipation of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison running for governor.