Carlos Uresti

Carlos "Charlie" Uresti (born September 18, 1963) is an American attorney and Democratic politician from San Antonio. He is currently member of the Texas State Senate representing Senate District 19, one of the largest geographical senatorial districts in the Texas Senate, covering a third of the Texas-Mexico Border. He is considered a statewide leader in the fight to prevent child abuse and neglect, and was named Legislator of the Year five times. Uresti previously represented portions of Bexar County and the City of San Antonio in District 118 of the Texas House of Representatives from 1997 to 2006.

Carlos Uresti was born in San Antonio on September 18, 1963 as the youngest of 8 children,. He grew up on the Southside of San Antonio and attended McCollum High School, where he was a part of the JROTC. After graduation, Uresti enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves at the age of 18. In 1985, he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from St. Mary’s University, and was then commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. Uresti rose to the rank of captain and earned the Navy Achievement Medal during his four years of active duty as a combat engineer. After his military career, Uresti returned to St. Mary’s University School of Law, from which he graduated in 1992. Since then, he has been in private practice in San Antonio, currently with The Uresti Law Firm.

Uresti married Lleanna Elizondo in 2012. She has two children, Katalina and Sebastian, and he has two sons: Michael, a 2005 graduate of Texas A&M University, and Carlos, Jr., who is a 2011 Texas A&M University-San Antonio graduate and a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Uresti is the grandfather to Benjamin, Evan, and Juliette. Two of his brothers are also involved in San Antonio politics: Albert Uresti ran unsuccessfully for US Congress in 2006 and was elected Tax Assessor-Collector of Bexar County in 2012, and Tomas Uresti is the member-elect for the Texas House of Representatives in District 118.

Uresti entered state politics during the 1997 special election for Texas House District 118. During his nine year career in the House, he chaired the Committee on Human Services during the 78th Legislature and the Committee on Government Reform during the 79th Legislature. Uresti was elected to the Texas State Senate in 2006 representing Senate District 19, after challenging 13-year incumbent Frank Madla in a contentious and sometimes heated primary election. Democratic activists were critical of Senator Madla for being too closely tied to the Republican leadership in the Senate and unwilling to utilize senatorial power to prevent the passage of Republican bills. Specifically, Uresti scrutinized Madla's role in a 2003 vote to remove 180,000 youngsters from the Children's Health Insurance Program. Madla controversially referred to Uresti's charge as a "procedural matter." Eventually, Uresti prevailed with 56.5 percent of the vote to Madla's 43.5 percent, and Senator Madla resigned effective May 31, 2006. For his second term, Uresti faced an unexpectedly difficult reelection in 2010, winning by less than 9,000 votes. The Senator attributed this to inadequate voter outreach in rural and exurban counties. In 2012, Uresti won by a significantly wider 19-point margin.

District 19 is one of the largest legislative districts in the United States, containing all or part of 17 counties and covering more than 35,000 square miles and about 400 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. The district contains 55 public school districts, more than 23,000 oil and gas wells, 10 state parks, three national parks, and more than 2,700 miles of highways and interstate transportation infrastructure. Redistricting in 2010 led to District 19 losing several western countries and gaining several eastern ones.

Throughout his legislative career, Uresti has been instrumental in passing many pieces of legislation. He has authored, coauthored, or sponsored many bills regarding child abuse and neglect. These include landmark reforms to Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services, an expansion of the state's newborn genetic disorder screening program, the establishment of a statewide Nurse-Family Partnership program for child abuse prevention, and the establishment of a Silver Alert program for missing elderly persons.

Uresti has also championed several economic development projects, facilitating the creating of a Toyota manufacturing plant in South San Antonio and reforming liability laws to allow for the creation of the Blue Origin spaceport in Culberson County. Additionally, Uresti was integral to the authorization and funding of Texas A&M University at San Antonio. The District includes much of the Eagle Ford Shale and thus is the location of much oil and natural gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing. As a result, Senator Uresti serves on the Senate Natural Resources Committee and authored SB1747, which distributes money to counties to improve roads to accommodate the unprecedented amount of oil and gas related economic activity.

Transportation

Senator Uresti has advocated for increased state investment in transportation infrastructure. He was a vocal critic of the TxDOT plan to replace heavily trafficked county roads with gravel, saying "It's no secret that I'm not a fan of this proposal" and that "TxDOT needs to revisit this approach." To remedy this, he authored and passed Senate Bill 1747, which created a grant program to help counties repair local roads strained by oil and gas exploration.

Child abuse and neglect

Senator Uresti has been a proponent of reform within the Child Protective Services. He has publicly stated that “We are not funding CPS the way it needs to be funded" and that CPS needs reformed management practices, lower caseloads per worker, and higher salaries. He has pushed for more resources to be put towards abuse prevention, saying “There were more than 66,000 confirmed cases of abuse and neglect in Texas last year. Last year, 156 children died in the state. That's down from 212 the year before, but even one death is too many.”

During the 84th Legislative Session, Senator Uresti pushed for increased funding for CPS to hire more caseworkers in order to reduce workloads. In a 2016 interim hearing, Senator Uresti advocated for better pay for CPS caseworkers, in order to decrease turnover and training costs.

Water

Senator Uresti was a proponent of Proposition 6, which provided $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to the State Water Plan, allowing low-interest loans for more than 560 water supply projects, saying that Texas needed to "take a progressive and forward looking approach to our long-term water needs." The Senator was a critic of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District (or BexarMet), a scandal-ridden San Antonio utility. He was chairman of a legislative oversight committee that monitored BexarMet, and spearheaded the effort to have the utility merged with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS).

Senator Uresti passed SB 1734, which mandated that the state begin a program to eradicate invasive Carrizo cane, in order to improve border security and conserve fresh water.

Energy and natural resources

Senator Uresti's district includes parts of the State's two largest oil and gas deposits: the Eagle Ford Shale and the Permian Basin. He has supported the boom in oil and gas exploration in the Eagle Ford, and has pushed for expansion of water and transportation infrastructure with oil revenue. He has pushed for the expansion of solar energy in West Texas, and is the author of Senate Bill 12, which seeks to convert the state's vehicle fleet to natural gas.

Uresti has served in the Texas State Senate since 2006, having previously served in the Texas House of Representatives since 1997. He is up for reelection in 2016.

Most recent election

Previous elections

2012

2010

2006

Two elections were held on November 7, 2006 due to Senator Frank Madla's resignation following his loss in the Primary. Senator Uresti was sworn in to the Senate in November rather than January because of his victory in the special election.

2004

2002

2000

1998

1997