Profile IV: Texas House Representative Penny Morales Shaw

In this issue, the Daily Dynamo met with attorney and current Texas House Representative for district 148, Ms. Penny Morales Shaw, who has been in office since 2021. During her time in the House, Texas has experienced a litany of crises that have disrupted the state’s energy infrastructure, from Winter Storm Urie to Category 1 Hurricane Beryl, both of which left hundreds of thousands without electricity for weeks. 

Like many other lawmakers in the state, she voiced her concerns about the many flaws in the energy infrastructure that supplies electricity and energy services to the state’s residents, emphasizing that simply moderate weather events can expose deep issues in our systems. Such issues, she stressed, is a troubling question that the state’s regulatory bodies, specifically The Public Utility Commission (PUC) must answer. As a member of the House Environmental Regulation Committee, as well as a member of the Caucus for Environment & Energy, she will play a central role this upcoming session in inquiring into not only what she sees as faulty oversight by such bodies but also mismanagement of resources by Texas’ energy stakeholders such as Centerpoint which was slow to connect thousands of consumers back onto the grid, putting many in peril. 

By “holding them to the fire [as] the PUC oversees them, it’s really a matter of legislators asking what are we going to do about this and how are we going to make sure this doesn’t happen again going forward”, she remarked, adding that increased funding to such stakeholders will be a possible action the House will take, though she hopes that their earnings can be ‘restructured so it will go back into strengthening the system”.

“Funding is always a high priority item during the sessions”, she emphasized, adding that one of the legislature’s key mandates is the biennial allocation of the state’s revenue.

While there is a litany of possible legislation that can be passed to remedy the existing issues, many of which are deeply rooted and systematic, with ‘hints of mismanagement’ among energy providers that limited operational efficiency; such issues borne themselves out during recent severe weather events. Shaw urges a deductive approach that will be backed by data and many discussions with the regulatory bodies and energy stakeholders. 

While many of the priorities of the House, as well as the Senate, are dictated by the senior leadership of the state government, she did say that there does seem to be an urgency in fixing such problems in the state’s energy infrastructure. 

To her, “holding the stakeholders accountable for the mistakes, [and discussing] how to improve, how to invest, and how to have better energy security”, is the most likely path of action, adding that previous proposals to connect the state to a regional grid have been ‘floated’ again, but will likely not be a marquee solution ‘seriously considered’ by the senior Republican leadership.

Through her involvement in the Caucus for Environment and Energy, she has seen firsthand the conflicts in crafting energy policy with such a diverse group of legislators, some of whom hail from districts that depend on a particular energy resource. Despite hardened opposition by some members of the legislature to investment in renewable energy, she remains optimistic that there can be progress, particularly through environmentally friendly policies such as carbon sequestration.

“Carbon sequestration is a hot topic right now”, she stated, confident it will come up again in the forthcoming session, “It’s probably going to be a budgetary item of how much funding goes into [it]”.

She maintains that such a focus on carbon sequestration is especially important, particularly with an economic atmosphere that caters towards the fossil fuel industry, despite profound gains in solar and wind energy in recent years. 

Shaw, like her colleague Jon Rosenthal, who the Dynamo also interviewed, cited H.B 5 from the 2023 session, which “left out increasing battery storage and reliance on solar and wind energy” as proof of efforts against more renewable energy investment.

Sharing conclusions from discussions with energy stakeholders, she emphasized the importance of renewable energies in the state’s energy grid, stating that ‘green, clean energy was used first when fulfilling the demand’ before suppliers turn to fossil fuels to produce electricity for the state. The rationale for such a decision, according to Shaw, is simply the availability of the resource, which is why she and her colleagues have been pushing for increased battery capacity, which would make renewables an even more important part of the state’s overall energy infrastructure. 

Beyond the grid, she touts the progress made through the Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP), which funds projects that reduce emissions across the state’s industries. Despite its well-intentioned purpose, Shaw maintained there were key flaws that limited its effectiveness, particularly the exclusion of Houston-area petrochemical businesses, who would have greatly benefited from such funding. Designating such enterprises as eligible for TERP funding was a key energy policy action of hers, per the Representative.

“Where all of the refineries and smokestacks were, nobody had access to those funds – we added it into the equation in the last session”. 

Looking ahead at the forthcoming session, she stressed the need for greater funding of the program, highlighting the increasing demand for such subsidization. ‘It’s oversubscribed’, she stated

Transportation, Shaw said, was the sector where TERP’s effect was most profound, adding that boats were previously not eligible for the program before they were also granted eligibility last session as well. Improving public transportation, from municipal transportation services to school district fleets, was an action that she believes can yield greater decreases in emissions in the coming years – however, she stressed again that such gains will only be fully realized with greater investment into the program through allocation of the budget surplus. 

“We need more funding”, she asserted plainly.

With only ten percent of bills proposed ever reaching the governor’s desk, she realizes that legislation to fully accomplish her vision for Texas will be difficult, with only one hundred and forty days per session, a pragmatic sentiment also stressed by Rosenthal. ‘Time is of the essence’, she maintained.

As an attorney by trade, many of these same issues she’s seen on the House floor  go ‘hand in hand’ with those she’s seen in the courtroom, from warring arguments to finding compromises that find a middle ground, which she believes is where the optimal solution for all Texans is commonly found. 

“With a middle ground solution, we can service the most people”, Shaw championed, reflecting her commitment to bipartisanship in solving the energy issues of today and tomorrow.