Jodie Anne Laubenberg

Jodie Anne Laubenberg
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 89th district
Assumed office
January 2003
Preceded by Charlie Geren (moved to District 99)
Personal details
Born (1957-04-20) April 20, 1957
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Robert Angus "Bob" Laubenberg
Children

David Pate Laubenberg

Elizabeth Anne Laubenberg
Residence Parker, Collin County
Texas, USA
Alma mater University of Texas at Austin
Profession Businesswoman

Jodie Anne Laubenberg (born April 20, 1957)[1] has been since 2003 a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 89 in Collin County in suburban Dallas, Texas.


Background

Laubenberg was born Jodie Anne Barta. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, from which she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She and her husband, Robert Angus "Bob" Laubenberg (born c. 1948), own CompuHelp Services in Allen, Texas.[2] The couple has two children, David P. Laubenberg (born c. 1984) and Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Laubenberg (born c. 1988), both of Allen.[1]

Political life

In her first five terms from 2003 to 2013, Laubenberg also represented part of Rockwall County as well as Collin County.[3] Laubenberg currently represents Parker, her municipality of residence on which she once served on the city council, as well as the communities of Murphy, Lucas, Fairview, Wylie, Lowry Crossing, and parts of Allen and the much larger Plano and Dallas.[4]

In the 2002 primary to choose a successor to Republican Charlie Geren, who was moved to District 99 in Tarrant County, Laubenberg led a three-candidate field with 3,084 votes (42.2 percent). She was forced into a runoff election with George Michael "Mike" Lawshe (born c. 1961) of Rockwall, who polled 2,374 votes (32.5 percent). A third candidate, businessman Tommy Jack Hooper (born c. 1949), also of Rockwall, held the remaining 1,854 votes (25.4 percent).[5] To win her first nomionation to the House, Laubenberg then defeated Lawshe, 2,374 votes (53 percent) to 2,107 votes (47 percent).[6]

Since her initial nomination, Laubenberg has not faced an opponent in a primary. Nor did she have a general election opponent in 2008, 2010, and 2012.[7] In 2006, she defeated the Democrat Lehman Jeremiah Harris (born c. 1946) of Rockwall and the Libertarian Helen J. Rhine (born c. 1941) of Wylie. That year Laubenberg polled 30,841 votes (69.9 percent); Harris, 11,522 (26.1 percent), and Rhine, 1,773 votes (4 percent).[8] Laubenberg had also defeated Harris in the 2004 general election, 53,875 (76.5 percent) to 16,591 (23.5 percent),[9] and in the lower-turnout 2002 general election, 28,776 (77.7 percent) to 8,245 (22.3 percent).[10]

In February 2013, Laubenberg was named Texas state chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonpartisan body of conservatives in state legislative houses across the nation.[11] She also serves in regular assignments on the House committees on (1) Investments and Financial Services and (2) Public Health.[1]

Opposition to abortion

In the first and second special sessions called by Governor Rick Perry in 2013, Laubenberg introduced legislation to restrict access to abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. She was quoted nationally for arguing on the House floor that "women can get cleaned out" with rape kits and potentially stop impregnation.[12] Rape kits have no medical purpose but are used to collect evidence after a sexual assault.

Laubenberg in 2013 co-sponsored companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers.[13] Both issues to restrict abortion brought forth an unsuccessful filibuster in the Texas State Senate from Wendy R. Davis of Fort Worth, who in 2014 is the Democratic nominee for governor.[14]

In 2011, Laubenberg voted for legislation to require a woman procuring an abortion first to undergo a sonogram. Supporters of this measure contend that some of the women viewing the developing child in the womb will be persuaded to change their minds and carry the baby to term. Laubenberg also voted for legislation in 2011 to forbid abortions in any facility which receives funding from the state of Texas.[13] The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Laubenberg 100 percent favorable on pro-life issues in both 2013 and 2005, 81 percent in 2011.[15]

Other legislative votes

Representative Laubenberg voted against the bill to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure passed the House, 73-58. She co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity. She also co-sponsored the extension of the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses. She opposed the adoption of the biennium state budget. She voted against the bill to prohibit texting while driving; the legislation passed the House, 97-45. Laubenberg voted to require testing for narcotics of those receiving unemployment compensation. She voted against the "equal pay for women" measure, which nevertheless passed the House, 78-61.[13]

Laubenberg co-sponsored the measure to forbid the state from engaging in the enforcement of federal regulations of firearms. Similarly, she co-sponsored legislation to allow college and university officials to carry concealed weapons in buildings and vehicles in the name of campus security. She backed legislation to reduce the time required to obtain a concealed-carry permit. She supported the redistricting bills for the state House, the Texas State Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. Laubenberg voted against term limits for certain state officials.[13]

In 2011, Laubenberg voted to establish eligibility standards for indigent health care. She was one of only twenty House members to oppose a sales tax on transactions in Texas via the Internet. She also voted to require picture identification of voters casting a ballot,[13]a measure which finally took effect in October 2013 and was used widely for the first time in the March 4 2014 primaries.[16]

Interest group ratings

In 2013 and in 2005, Laubenberg's rating from Phyllis Schlafly's interest group, Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, was 100 percent favorable; in 2011, 96 percent. In 2013, The Young Conservatives of Texas gave her a lifetime score of 91 percent. In 2003, her first year in office, the Christian Coalition of Texas rated her 100 percent. The Texas League of Conservation Voters scored Laubenberg 62 percent; the Sierra Club, 14 percent in 2011. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, rated her 100 percent in 2013 and 94 percent in 2011, high scores from that particular organization. The Texas Association of Business gave her a 2013 rating of 93 percent and a cumulative score of 88 percent favorable. The National Rifle Association rated her 92 percent in 2013 and "A" in all previous sessions in which she was a House member. The Texas Libertarian Party rated her 90 percent favorable in 2009 in matters of economics and civil liberties.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jodie Anne Laubenberg's Biography". votesmart.org. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Rep. Jodie Laubenberg". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Jodie Laubenberg". Texas Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  4. ↑ "House District 89" (PDF). fyi.legis.state.tx.us. Austin, Texas: Texas Legislature. 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Republican primary election returns (House District 89), March 2002". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Republican runoff election returns (House District 89), April 2002". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ "State Rep. Jodie Laubenberg". The Texas Tribune. 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  8. ↑ "General election returns (House District 89), November 7, 2006". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  9. ↑ "General election returns (House District 89), November 2, 2004". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ "General election returns (House District 89), November 2002". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Laubenberg Named Texas State Chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council, February 5, 2013". house.state.tx.us. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Rape-kit remarks put Rep. Jodie Laubenberg of Collin County in spotlight". The Dallas Morning News. June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jodie Anne Laubenberg's Voting Records". votesmart.org. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ Fernandez, M. (June 25, 2013). "Filibuster in Texas Senate Tries to Halt Abortion Bill". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  15. 1 2 "Jodie Laubenberg's Ratings and Endorsements". votesmart.org. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Texas Voter ID Officially Takes Effect, October 21, 2013". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by
Charlie Geren (moved to District 99)		 Texas State Representative from District 89 (part of Collin County)

Jodie Anne Laubenberg
2003–

Succeeded by
Incumbent
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