"When we find more young Texans have entered into bankruptcy than are entering college, we see a sobering view of tomorrow. " Eliot Shapleigh, State Senator

Senator Eliot Shapleigh has represented the 29th state senate district in El Paso for almost 10 years and is a leading consumer champion in the Texas Senate.

Senator Shapleigh graduated from Rice University in 1974 and served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa until 1977. He then attended The University of Texas School of Law, graduating in 1981.

In 1983, Senator Shapleigh founded his own law firm with two partners and today is the managing partner of the Shapleigh Law Firm, PC.

You’ve led the fight in the Legislature against predatory lending. How are products like payday loans affecting Texas consumers?

Today in Texas, predatory lending is an epidemic. In low-income and minority communities there is a predatory lender on every block.

When Texans find that lenders are trying to push for interest rates as high as 790 percent, I believe we’ll see momentum for change. Last session we passed legislation regulating predatory lending to soldiers.

When soldiers come back from fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, predatory lenders are repossessing their cars, booting their wives out of their homes, in order to collect.

Under the Soldiers Protection Act, we regulated disclosure, repossession, and foreclosure and gave base commanders the ability to place such predators off-limits.

Last session, you passed SB 851, establishing a financial literacy pilot program in public schools. What will this law do?

This pilot program will create curriculum in Texas schools for a solid foundation of financial literacy. When we find more young Texans have entered into bankruptcy than are entering college, we see a sobering view of tomorrow.

Every Texan should have the basic skills to balance a checkbook, borrow money, own stocks, and calculate a good deal on a credit card. Especially in Hispanic and African communities, financial literacy will define the future of economic independence.

Too often Hispanics and Africans enter into high interest mortgage loans, because other options are not available or not analyzed. If we do not make available the American dream to every community in Texas, then we will limit Texans who own homes, have retirement, and own a piece of the American dream.

You’ve introduced legislation to require paper trails for new electronic voting machines. How can paper trails restore faith in the integrity of elections?

When Texans go vote they should know their vote counts. If you go vote electronically, ask the precinct worker what happened to your vote. The fact is, no one can assure you that your vote was recorded, tallied and delivered. In Ohio and Florida, people have simply lost faith in the fairness of elections. Providing a paper trail—solid evidence that the vote was cast is the key to restoring faith in a basic tenant of American democracy.

How can TexPIRG’s members make a difference on these issues?

What I see is that local initiatives are the key to a responsive democracy. Go to your county commissioners, ask them to contract with a vendor who guarantees paper trail votes. Ask your City Council to research and implement ordinances on predatory lending disclosures. If democracy doesn’t work in D.C. or Austin, make it work at home. Start with those institutions closest to you and make change every day.