About Hector Uribe

Hector Uribe is a Democratic candidate for Texas Land Commissioner whose goal is to lead the General Land Office from the 20th Century hydrocarbon-based energy sources to 21st Century renewable energy sources. Uribe will vigorously battle global warming by promoting renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, while preventing any negative impact to revenue streams that flow into the Permanent School Fund.

Uribe has extensive experience in legislative and governmental advocacy having served almost a decade in the Texas Senate and 3 years in the Texas House. Equal educational opportunity, economic development, and job creation were the hallmarks of Uribe’s tenure as a senator.

He authored the bill to merge Pan American University into the UT System providing graduate programs to previously underserved college students in the Rio Grande Valley and the border, and the Texas Enterprise Zone Act designed to create new businesses and jobs in economically depressed areas. His varied committee assignments, prepared him in a broad range of areas, including the protection of our environment. He chaired the Senate’s standing sub-committee on Water as well as vice-chaired the joint subcommittee on Oil Spills and Water Pollution Abatement. He was the first modern-day sponsor of the Texas lottery, and he authored Protective Services for the Elderly.

Since leaving the senate and as a lawyer and legislative consultant, he has represented clients before the legislature and numerous state agencies. With over 37 years experience as a lawyer he has represented a variety of clients, including political subdivisions, trade associations, business enterprises and non-profit organizations. As legislative consultant to Zapata County he helped draft and managed the successful passage of legislation to protect the environment, Falcon Lake and the Rio Grande River by providing the county with ordinance and zoning authority.

Uribe has served on the four-member board of directors of the Texas Senate Hispanic Research Council. The non-profit corporation, inspired and supported by Hispanic members of the Texas Senate, sponsors a legislative-intern program designed to provide exceptional university scholars an opportunity to experience a legislative session in the office of a Texas senator.

As adjunct faculty at the University of Texas’ Center for Mexican American Studies, Uribe has taught two upper level courses, Mexican Americans and the Texas Legislature and Mexican American Legal History. The courses have drawn key legislative leaders and former legislators to participate, including Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Billy Clayton, and former Chairman of the Mexican American House Caucus Pete Gallego.

Uribe, a graduate of the University of Miami, School of Law in Coral Gables Florida, continues to litigate, claims to manage a small family ranch in Zapata County, and brags that he is, at the very least, a sixth-generation Texan.