Jane Nelson at the top of her game in Texas Senate

The favorite part of her day, Jane Nelson says, comes just after she gets up in her apartment within walking distance of the State Capitol. That’s when she indulges in some solitary quality time enjoying the latest videos of her seven grandchildren, sent overnight from her family.

It’s one Nelson’s few moments of tranquillity. From there, the Senate’s chief budget writer accelerates into one of the most demanding schedules in the Legislature, a pressure-packed blur of committee hearings, floor debates, top-level discussions and countless other activities that typically keep her up well past midnight.

And through it all, she finds time to read all her letters and emails from constituents back home.

After 22 years in the Senate, the North Texas Republican is one of the most powerful figures in the 84th Legislature as chairwoman of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee, chairwoman of the agency-overhauling Texas Sunset Commission and trusted point person for new Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate’s presiding officer.

Nelson, who combines a sunny demeanor with indefatigable tenacity, is a driving force behind some of the Legislature’s top priorities, including reforming the scandal-plagued state contracting system, restructuring the troubled Health and Human Services network and crafting a budget to finance state government for the next two years.

As she looks toward the second half of the 2015 session, Nelson exudes the enthusiasm of someone who is clearly passionate about the job. Any interest in seeking an office outside the Senate — she has been mentioned as a candidate for lieutenant governor and Congress — seems to have evaporated or at least been pushed far into the background.

“I love being in the Senate. I love to roll up my sleeves and really get into the making of legislation, and yet I get to go home on weekends and play with those babies,” she said last week during a rare interview in her office on the first floor of the Capitol.

“They wanted me to go to Washington, D.C., when [former House Majority Leader] Dick Armey retired, and I have absolutely no interest in that. I can make things happen here.”

Jane Gray Nelson, 63, is at the top of her game in a political career that began well over two decades ago. After teaching school in Arlington, she left the classroom to become a full-time mom and community volunteer in Denton County while also engaging in grassroots politics for Republican candidates.

The next step was a four-year stint on the State Board of Education, where she led a charge to reform textbook selection after exposing more than 5,000 errors in history books.

Then came her first run for the state Senate, as a Republican candidate challenging 12-year Democratic incumbent Bob Glasgow in 1992. The former sixth-grade teacher developed a reputation as the “Dairy Queen candidate” by passing out brochures at virtually every DQ in the district.

She also had powerful allies. George W. Bush, the managing general partner of the Texas Rangers (pre-governorship, pre-presidency), was her campaign chairman. And Texas doctors who opposed a Glasgow medical initiative joined sides with Nelson.

After drawing 60 percent of the vote to 40 percent for Glasgow, Nelson was on her way to the Senate as a Republican freshman in what was then a Democratic-dominated chamber led by a Democratic titan, Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock. During her first session, in 1993, she defied the Senate leadership as one of only two senators who voted against the final version of the budget, a $70.1 billion spending plan that Nelson called a “smoke and mirrors” scheme to defer spending to the next session, according to news reports at the time.

In the ensuing years, particularly after Republicans gained Senate control in 1997, Nelson transformed from outsider to insider as she advanced in seniority, gained power as a committee leader and repeatedly won re-election, with only token opposition.

Her 12th District covers fast-growing Denton and Tarrant counties, encompassing 800,000 people and 57 cities, including northwest Fort Worth, the southern half of Denton, and all of Lewisville and Flower Mound.

Nelson loves the work, but she lights up even more when she talks about family. She and her husband, Mike, whom she met in college, have five grown children — a son and four daughters — seven grandchildren and another on the way. She always tries to go home on weekends to recharge her batteries.

“Every Sunday, the kids all come over after church,” she said, “and I will cook for at least 20 people, and whoever comes by, eats.”

Setting precedents

Today, first, longest-serving and most are terms that help define Nelson’s stature in the Senate. She was the longest-serving chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, from 2003 to late 2014, and is now the first woman to chair the Finance Committee. She is also the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and has been one of the most prolific bill-passers for years. She also consistently ranks as one of the chamber’s most conservative members.

As finance chairwoman, the Flower Mound lawmaker is at the helm of one of Patrick’s pet initiatives, a $4.6 billion tax relief package carved out of the relatively robust stream of state revenue available to lawmakers this year.

The proposed cuts in school property taxes and business franchise taxes have drawn opposition from critics, including some Republicans, who argue that the money should be used to shore up state services such as education and transportation and to repair deteriorating state buildings. But Nelson said lawmakers can afford to meet pressing needs as well as soften the blow for taxpayers.

“The state has brought in so much money in property taxes that I feel strongly we need to give some of that back. We can do that. I don’t think it should just be homeowners. I think businesspeople need to have some tax relief,” she said.

On the spending side, Nelson said she recognizes that many state buildings are in disrepair and believes that Texas should spend “significant amounts of money on facilities” based on priority.

“We’re going to spend more in new needs, additional needs, than we are in what we give back to the taxpayer,” she said. “But we can do both and stay under the [constitutionally mandated] spending cap because the economy’s so healthy.”

Although the Senate finance post constitutes her base of power, Nelson’s reach extends well beyond that. On Thursday, her bill to overhaul the state’s procurement system — which Gov. Greg Abbott has adopted as a template for new contracting guidelines at state agencies — cleared her Finance Committee and is on its way to likely passage in the full Senate.

A Nelson bill to expand medical residency training and curb a doctor shortage in Texas is expected to clear the Finance Committee.

On Monday, the full 31-member Senate will likely approve her bill to allow NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway, which is in Nelson’s district, to be eligible for incentives from the Major Events Trust Fund, which was created to entice big events to Texas.

Contract mess

As chairwoman of the Sunset Commission, which assesses the effectiveness of every state agency, Nelson is at the center of a phased restructuring of the five-agency Health and Human Services Commission.

The commission has come under sharp criticism over reports of mismanaged contracts totaling tens of millions of dollars.

The plan, announced last week by Nelson and Sunset Commission Vice Chairman Four Price, a Republican House member from Amarillo, would pull two of the agencies under the umbrella of the Health and Human Services Commission in 2016, followed by two more in 2019.

The current network was created with the consolidation of 12 agencies more than a decade ago, but the Sunset Commission staff said the structure remains flawed.

Nelson said the restructuring, which requires the Legislature’s approval, will save taxpayer dollars by eliminating redundant functions, such as duplicate information technology and legal departments.

“Why in the world would you have four different legal departments over there?” Nelson said. “So, yes, I’m doing a big restructuring.”

Nelson’s Senate Bill 20 would prohibit conflicts of interest between agencies and vendors, eliminate “revolving-door” hiring between agencies and vendors for two years, require public disclosure of all no-bid contracts and require state agencies to record contracts with outside vendors in a database run by the comptroller’s office. Nelson said the bill addresses the need to get “a firm handle on contracting across the state.”

Even if she weren’t engaged in the clampdown on state contracts, Nelson would still be in the elite circle of legislative MVPs as Senate finance chairwoman, one of the most powerful positions in state government.

“When you’re chairman of finance, you’re the top of the food chain, period,” said lobbyist Bill Miller, who has known Nelson since her days on the State Board of Education.

Nelson, who has been part of the Finance Committee for more than a decade, was expected to get the nod to lead the panel, replacing Sen. Tommy Williams, who left to become a vice chancellor at Texas A&M University. Then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst named her to the post in July, and Patrick, a former state senator who defeated Dewhurst in the Republican primary, reappointed her in the opening days of the Legislature.

From all appearances, Patrick and Nelson have forged a close working relationship, appearing jointly to unveil the budget and to announce a proposal to exempt spending for tax relief and paying down debt from counting toward the state’s spending cap.

Patrick, who defeated Dewhurst with strong support from Tea Party activists, was not available for an interview but said in a statement to the Star-Telegram that “there was never a doubt who I was going to appoint as Senate Finance chair,” describing Nelson “as a great leader and teammate.”

“It is important for the Lt. Governor and Finance Chair to have a strong relationship,” he said. “We work exceptionally well together.”

Nelson said she and Patrick communicate “all the time,” adding that they don’t always agree but don’t have “knockdown” disputes.

“Good gracious, I don’t agree with my husband a lot, and Mike and I will be together 45 years this year,” she said. The lieutenant governor, she said, is “very respectful and I greatly appreciate that.”

Staying cheerful

Continuing the leadership style she displayed as health and human services chairwoman, Nelson runs the budget committee, composed of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, with what members of both parties say is a firm but inclusive approach.

“Light touch, good leader,” is how Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman, describes her.

Nelson regularly takes groups of committee members to dinner and often engages in impromptu discussions on the Senate floor or in Capitol corridors.

“You can tell she’s been a schoolteacher,” said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who is new to the committee. “She kind of lets you come along at your own pace [and] makes sure you have the information you need.”

Watson, a former Austin mayor, said Nelson’s “cheerful way of doing things” also eases the tension “when some of the issues get thorny.”

But as Nelson explains it, in an office filled with pictures of grandchildren, confronting tall challenges is simply part of the job description.

“I enjoy working with people to come up with solutions,” she said. “I want us to work together to do what the Texas Legislature needs to be doing, and that is passing laws that are good for Texas.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2015 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Jane Nelson at the top of her game in Texas Senate."