User:SomethingSmart/Elizabeth Ames Jones

Elizabeth Ames Jones (born October 29, 1956) is a Republican politician and a current Texas Railroad Commissioner. She is one three commissioners on the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency which oversees all oil and natural gas drilling and permitting, coal and Uranium mining permitting, intrastate pipeline permitting and access,  and investor owned natural gas utility rates. Jones also served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2000-2005.

Early life
A sixth-generation Texan, Elizabeth Ames Jones was born in San Antonio to geologist and independent oilman Eugene L. Ames, Jr. and Ellen Rhett Young (Ames). Her great, great grandfather, Robert Means Walker helped found St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio. As a child, Jones frequently traveled with her father to the oil fields of West Texas and learned early about life in the Oil Patch. Jones attended elementary school, middle school and high school in San Antonio, graduating from Alamo Heights High School in 1974.

Jones attended The University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a B.A. in Journalism in 1978.

Jones is married William C. Jones, IV, a civil engineer and attorney. They are the parents of William Jones, V and Annabell Jones.

To the Texas Legislature
In 2000, Elizabeth Ames Jones was elected to her first term in the Texas House of Representatives to represent Texas House District 121, a growing urban/suburban district in the Northeast side of Bexar County and includes all or parts of Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Windcrest, San Antonio and Olmos Park. She defeated incumbent, Bill Seibert, in the Republican Primary and went on to defeat Democrat Michael Zapper and Libertarian J. Moore in the general election. Jones was the first female to represent District 121 in the Texas Legislature. Two years later she was elected to a second term with 89.9% of the vote defeating Green Party candidate Harlen McVea. In November 2004, she was elected to serve a third term but stepped down from her office before being sworn in to the 79th Legislature to accept her appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission.

During her tenure in the Texas Legislature, Jones served on the Energy Recourses, Appropriations, Local and Consent Calendars, and the Select School Finance Committees. Jones also served as Chairman of Budget and Oversight for the Energy Resources Committee. On the Appropriations Committee, Jones helped craft a budget that cut actual state spending for the first time since World War II and helped overcome a $10 billion revenue shortfall without raising taxes.

During her second time in the Texas Legislature, Jones was elected to serve as Vice Chairman of the Republican Caucus. She was the first woman to serve in that position in Texas history and she served in that position until her appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission in 2005.

To the Texas Railroad Commission
In 2005, Elizabeth Ames Jones was appointed to the Texas Railroad Commissioner by current Texas Governor Rick Perry to replace out-going commissioner Charles Matthews. The Texas Railroad Commission is the regulatory body in Texas that oversees Texas’ energy industries, including oil, natural gas, propane, coal and uranium as well as the state’s intrastate pipeline industries.

In 2006, Jones was elected to serve a full 6-year term on the Railroad Commission defeating Democrat Dale Henry and Libertarian Tabitha Serrano to win. Jones was elected with 54.03% of the vote and received 2,269,743 votes to Henry’s 41.73% (1,752,947) and Serrano’s 4.22% (177,648). As a Railroad Commissioner, Jones also serves as a member of the Interstate Oil and gas Compact Commission, the Coastal Coordination Council and the Coastal Land Advisory Committee.

In October 2007, The Washington Post published an Op-Ed written by Jones named Energy Security 101.

SomethingSmart (talk) 15:26, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

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