by Legislative Media | Jan 5, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, addressing the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s 84th Legislative Session Wrap-Up Luncheon, held on Thursday, July 9, 2015 at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in McAllen.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
The key public meetings of elected governmental bodies in the larger school districts, cities and counties in Texas, including many in the Valley, must now be videotaped in their entirety and made available on the Internet under a state law coauthored by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, which went into effect on January 1, 2016. “House Bill 283 will improve transparency and access to our government leaders by ensuring that recordings of open meetings are now easily available to the people,” said Canales. “Many people do not have the available time to attend city council/commission, school board, and county commissioners court meetings because they are working, spending time with their families, or lack access to transportation.” During the public hearing on HB 283 held on Monday, May 11, 2015 before the House Committee on Government Transparency, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas announced its support for the goals of the legislation. “We feel that the bill is a very good one, puts it out there, people can look online if there is a certain decisions, debates, discussions they are interested in,” said Kelley Shannon, Executive Director for the Freedom on Information Foundation of Texas. “They don’t have to be at the meeting, they can use technology and access it. We support the bill.” The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, founded in 1978 and led by a volunteer board of directors, is a non-profit 301(c)(3) organization devoted to promoting open government and protection of the First Amendment rights of free speech and free press, according to its website. The House District 40 legislator also said it was important for public officials to provide the unedited visual/audio recordings of their actions on the Internet so their comments cannot be taken out of context or misunderstood, leaving a false impression of their actions and motives. “Some of the local governments in the Valley and in my legislative district already were providing this and other vital public information services, but now more of our elected leaders are going to do the same beginning this month,” Canales said. “This measure makes it state law that elected officials cannot take away the right of the people to see for themselves through the Internet what is being said and done in their name.” As finally approved by the Legislature during the spring of 2015 and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 17, 2015, HB 283 applies to “district board of trustees for a school district that has a student enrollment of 10,000 or more, an elected governing body of a home-rule municipality that has a population of 50,000 or more, or a county commissioners court for a county that has a population of 125,000”, according to the legislation. Metropolitan rapid transit authorities, regional transportation authorities, and municipal transit departments also are covered by this law. Canales said he encourages area elected leaders in the Valley, who represent smaller populations, to also put their meetings on the Internet, even if they are not required by the new state law. “Technology has improved so much that a community can use even an smartphone to record, with good to excellent quality in the audio and video, their public meetings, and the costs to get it online, such as posting them on YouTube, is very little, if no cost,” the state lawmaker said. “Testimony on this law last spring found that a county in west Texas, with a population of 11,000, was already doing it.
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by Legislative Media | Nov 10, 2015 | Politics
Featured: Arnold De La Paz, Founder and President, The DLP Group, Inc., Corpus Christi; Gloria Pérez, President, Asiel Enterprises, Inc., Corpus Christi; Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg; and Roland Barrera, Owner, Roland Barrera Insurance, Corpus Christi, and Past Chair of Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce, during the 39th Annual Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce State Convention on Saturday, August 2, 2014, at the former Embassy Suites by Hilton Hotel in McAllen.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
The state’s public universities, especially the flagship campuses of The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University at College Station, must continue to increase the enrollment of Hispanic and other racial and ethnic minorities in order to best prepare all Texans for a bright future, says Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg. “Texas, which is the best state in the nation, has seen the Hispanic population become almost as large as the Anglo population, but we do not see Hispanics and other minority groups properly represented in the classrooms at UT-Austin and Texas A&M-College Station, which are among wealthiest public universities in the world,” said Canales. “We still have a ways to go, but we are moving in the right direction.” As part of his efforts to open more doors to all Texans at the mammoth UT and Texas A&M campuses, Canales has become one of 53 state lawmakers who have signed a legal document, known as an amicus brief, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to support efforts that allow UT to consider race and ethnicity, among other factors, in order to promote diversity in its student population. In the Fall of 2014, 19.2 percent of the student enrollment at UT-Austin was Hispanic, while at Texas A&M during the same semester, 21.9 percent of the student enrollment was Hispanic. By comparison, the Hispanic population in 2014, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau, is 38.6 percent of the state’s almost 27 million residents. That figure approaches the number of Anglos in Texas, who make up almost 44 percent of the state’s population. African Americans represent the third largest population group in the state, totaling 12.5 percent of all Texans. Canales said since UT-Austin and Texas A&M-College Station were created by the Texas Legislature to serve all of Texas, it is incumbent upon the Legislature to improve what he called “dismal” student enrollment rates at those two campuses of Hispanic and other minority groups. Although the amicus brief focuses on increasing the number of racial and ethnic minorities at UT-Austin, Canales said first and foremost he remains focused on ongoing efforts to transform The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley into the next UT-Austin and Texas A&M-College Station. “Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. The students, faculty, and administrators at UT-Austin, Texas A&M-College Station, or anywhere else are not better or more intelligent than at UT Rio Grande Valley,” Canales emphasized. “What they do have, that we don’t, are more opportunities and more resources than the rest of the state’s public universities, and those are some of the reasons I support increasing minority student enrollments at those two rich campuses.” Canales said constituents ask him what his vision is for UTRGV, and the state lawmaker said he shares the hopes and dreams of all South Texans. “It’s no secret. We in South Texas will not rest, we will not be discouraged, we will not be stopped in our monumental effort to transform UTRGV into a world-class institution,” Canales said. “We are going to have a law school and other professional schools, just like UT and Texas A&M, we are going to expand our School of Medicine in Edinburg and throughout the Valley, and much more. Just look how far we have come in just the past few years.”
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by Legislative Media | Oct 15, 2015 | Politics
Featured, second from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, on Thursday, July 9, 2015, during the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s 84th Legislative Session Wrap-Up Luncheon, held at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in McAllen.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
“Revenge porn”, the name given to a vengeful and widespread trend that involves the unauthorized posting on the Internet of sexually-explicit images without an individual’s permission, is now a crime in Texas, and can result in punishment of up to one year in jail and up to a $4,000 fine, Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, has announced. The shameless practice, which is typically taken by vindictive former lovers, amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code and Penal Code to establish the Class A misdemeanor offense of unlawful disclosure or promotion of intimate visual material and to establish a defendant’s civil liability to a person depicted in intimate visual material for damages arising from the material’s unlawful disclosure or promotion. “The reality is there are some people who simply cannot handle rejection in their personal lives, and when things don’t go their way, they lash out by putting very intimate photographs on the Internet in order to humiliate, shame, or traumatize their current or former spouses or significant others,” said Canales. “So they resort to this despicable tactic, which is known as ‘revenge porn’. But now, the long arm of Texas law is able to protect the innocent and punish the guilty.” This past spring, Canales helped pass the measure, Senate Bill 1135 by Sen. Sylvia García, D-Houston, first through the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, of which he is a member, and then through the House of Representatives. SB 1135, which was signed into law on June 17, 2015, by Gov. Greg Abbott, became law on September 1, 2015. “The moment I read what SB 1135 was about, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to give it my full support, especially as a member of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, because we had to pass it in order for it to have any chance to become law,” said Canales. “SB 1135 is now the law. I want to help get this message out, especially to victims who may not know that ‘revenge porn’ is a crime, and Texas will not stand for it.” The Houston senator’s SB 1135, which makes Texas one of more than 20 states which have passed laws targeting “revenge porn”, is formally known as the Relationship Privacy Act. In announcing that the law had go into effect on September 1, García explained that “revenge porn” is usually done with the specific intent to gain revenge and harm the depicted person and without the consent of the depicted person. Thus, this practice has been commonly referred to as “revenge pornography.” Victims’ images are commonly posted along with information such as their name, contact information, and links to their social media profiles, she added. To add insult to injury, “revenge porn websites” are further preying on victims by charging fees to remove the sexually explicit images from the Internet, García added. SB 1135 establishes criminal penalties and civil remedies for this reprehensible practice. “Posting a nude or sexually explicit photo of someone on the Internet without their permission is an evil and destructive violation of trust. My hope is that the civil and criminal penalties provided for under the Relationship Privacy Act deter this heinous conduct from ever occurring again in Texas,” García said. “However, should some coward choose to defy all decency in a petty attempt to get revenge, I take some comfort in knowing that the Act gives law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to get justice for the victims.” Both Canales and García saved special praise for victims of “revenge porn” for playing the key role to make the law possible. “I would also like to again thank the brave victims of ‘revenge pornography’ that came forward and shared their stories,” the Houston senator emphasized. “This law could not have passed without their courage.” Canales said the law is the latest victory against family violence. “Family violence also involves emotional and psychological torment, and ‘revenge porn’ most certainly can leave long-lasting, even permanent, injuries just like physical violence,” the Edinburg lawmaker said. “For those who think they can use the Internet to inflict such pain, it is you who should be in fear, because Texas is coming to get you.”
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by Legislative Media | Sep 27, 2015 | Politics
Featured, from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, greets constituents at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s 84th Legislative Session Wrap-Up Luncheon, held on Thursday, July 9, 2015, at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in McAllen as Alex Ri?os, the District Director for Canales’ legislative office in Edinburg, looks on.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
Efforts to improve the identification process of undocumented immigrants who die while crossing from Mexico into Texas will take center stage in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday, September 28, when the Texas Forensic Science Commission hosts a public meeting at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, has announced. The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the facility, which is located at 118 Paseo Del Prado, near the intersection of McColl Road and Dove Avenue in southwest Edinburg. The gathering in Edinburg, which is the result of a last- minute amendment on May 26, 2015 by Canales to Senate Bill 1287, will focus on what is known as the Rio Grande Identification Project. The Edinburg lawmaker’s amendment created the Rio Grande Identification Project and requires the Texas Forensic Science Commission – a state agency – “to develop a method for collecting forensic evidence related to the unidentified bodies located less than 120 miles from the Rio Grande River,” Leigh M. Tomlin, with the Texas Forensic Science Commission, stated in an advisory about the Edinburg meeting. “In accordance with its legislative mandate, the commission is working with stakeholders to develop a systematic plan for proper forensic evidence collection of biological material that may help identify human remains found along the border. The goal for the session is to establish best practices in Texas for subsequent publication and dissemination,” Tomlin explained. Canales said an estimated 1,000 immigrants without any identification have died in the Rio Grande Valley during the past 10 years. In the summer of 2014, international attention was focused in deep South Texas with the discovery that mass graves of hundreds of suspected unidentified immigrants were buried haphazardly in a cemetery in Brooks County. In addition, hundreds of immigrants’ bodies have been recovered on the ranches in Brooks County in recent years. Smugglers guide immigrants through the brush trying to circumvent a Border Patrol highway checkpoint an hour’s drive north of the border. There is little water and the walk can take two or three days in punishing temperatures. The House District 4o lawmaker recalled how the Legislature late last spring took action to bring compassion and closure to thousands of families who never know what happened to their love ones who crossed into Texas seeking a better life. “It was spontaneous. I just noticed the subject of the bill and it got me out of my chair,” Canales told reporter Kristian Herna?ndez with the Monitor newspaper in McAllen. “I ran to the front of the House of Representatives and said, ‘I have an amendment to this bill, hold on.’” The passage of his amendment was even more remarkable given the political climate in the Legislature, he noted. “I think it was one of my most exciting moments in the Legislature,” Canales said. “I was a little overjubilant that it passed, especially with the anti-immigrant sentiment that exists in the Texas legislature. I think it’s a great victory.” Canales’ amendment forced the Texas Forensic Science Commission to create a manual for the postmortem examination and identification process of unidentified border crossers, Herna?ndez added. “I think that it’s unquestionable what role immigrants play in our daily lives in our economy,” Canales said. “Not only do we need to respect what they do for our country but we need to respect human life in death.”
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by Legislative Media | Sep 4, 2015 | Politics
Featured: First row, from left: Martin V. “Marty” Baylor, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen; Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg; former Rep. Verónica Gonzáles, D-McAllen, Vice President for Government and Community Relations, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; Elva Jackson Garza, Vice President and Marketing & Business Development Manager, Edwards Abstract & Title Company; Lucy G. Canales, Partner, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP; Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission; Alex Ríos, District Director, Rep. Terry Canales; and Robert McGurk, Senior Vice President, Elsa State Bank & Trust Company. Back row, from left: Edinburg Fire Chief Shawn Snider; Jacob De León, Funeral Director, Memorial Funeral Home; Edinburg City Councilmember David Torres; and Michael Williamson, Market President, PlainsCapital Bank. This portrait was taken at the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce’s Public Affairs Legislative Luncheon held on Thursday, August 27, 2015 at the ECHO Hotel and Conference Center.
Photograph By RONNIE LARRALDE
Chalk up Hidalgo County as the first region in Texas that allows attorneys in all criminal cases to file pleadings and documents electronically – known as e-filing – as a result of a state law passed two years ago by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, which will continue to bring the state’s court system into the paperless generation. Effective Tuesday, September 1, the eyes of the state judicial system began looking at the use of e-filing in criminal cases in Hidalgo County, as the rest of the Texas prepares to follow Hidalgo County’s lead beginning on November 1 in implementing a new system designed to improve justice for all. Canales is confident that his measure – House Bill 349, which was sponsored by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, two years ago – will be a resounding success. HB 349 is designed to improve the delivery of justice in Hidalgo County, reduce costs to county taxpayers, attorneys and litigants, and take advantage of the latest technological advances in the state’s legal system, the House District 40 lawmaker contends. “Courts have long been burdened with processing paper, a problem that continues to grow exponentially and largely unabated,” said Canales. “After more than 167 years of processing traditional filing, Texas Court Clerks are awash in the state’s judicial paper trail. Electronic filing offers a means to stem the paper tide.” Hinojosa, citing data provided by the Office of the Hidalgo County District Clerk, reported that in 2014, there were 5,170 criminal cases filed, in addition to 19,341 civil and family cases. “One of the key advantages of the e-filing system, both in civil and criminal cases, is it allows attorneys more time during the day to submit their motions, rather than face a 5 p.m. deadline,” the state senator explained. “The statewide e-filing portal (efiletexas.gov) allows filers to file documents until midnight during regular business days in both civil and criminal cases. As a result, attorneys have more flexibility and are no longer rushed to file documents at the courthouse before closing hour at 5 p.m.” There would be no cost to the county government to use the e-filing system for civil or criminal cases, and there would be no cost to litigants who are too poor to pay for the service, Canales added. Later this fall, Hidalgo County District Clerk Laura Hinojosa (no relation to Sen. Hinojosa) will organize a question-and-answer session for the area’s attorneys to help them better understand the e-filing system for criminal cases. The details of that event will soon be announced by District Clerk Hinojosa. Also under the new state law, Hidalgo County can still allow traditional paper filing as well. Canales predicts that the future is at hand. ‘The era of big paper is over,” Canales said. According to dictionary.law.com, a motion is a formal request made to a judge for an order or judgment. Motions are made in court all the time for many purposes: to continue (postpone) a trial to a later date, to get a modification of an order, for temporary child support, for a judgment, for dismissal of the opposing party’s case, for a rehearing, for sanctions (payment of the moving party’s costs or attorney’s fees), or for dozens of other purposes. Most motions require a written petition, a written brief of legal reasons for granting the motion (often called “points and authorities”), written notice to the attorney for the opposing party and a hearing before a judge. However, during a trial or a hearing, an oral motion may be permitted
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