The newest Texas Weekly Index measures each of the state's legislative and congressional districts, based on how statewide Republicans and Democrats fared in races in each district over the 2010 and 2012 election cycles.

These are the districts used in the 2012 (post-redistricting) elections and show the percentage-point spread between the average Democratic and Republican  candidate in statewide elections over those two years. A red number means the Republicans finished first and shows by how much; a blue number indicates a Democratic district, and its strength.

We cranked the numbers ourselves, but the heavy lifting was done by the Texas Legislative Council, which processed the raw election results into results per district.

District	Representative	Party	TWI
1	Lavender, George	R	-37.3
2	Flynn, Dan	R	-50.5
3	Bell Jr., Cecil	R	-57.1
4	Gooden, Lance	R	-46.6
5	Hughes, Bryan	R	-45.9
6	Schaefer, Matt	R	-46.3
7	Simpson, David	R	-45.9
8	Cook, Byron	R	-44.6
9	Paddie, Christopher Chris	R	-37.6
10	Pitts, Jim	R	-47.9
11	Clardy, Travis	R	-44.8
12	Kacal, Kyle	R	-23.3
13	Kolkhorst, Lois	R	-49.6
14	Raney, John	R	-33.4
15	Toth, Steve	R	-58.8
16	Creighton, Brandon	R	-62.6
17	Kleinschmidt, Tim	R	-20.3
18	Otto, John	R	-39.7
19	White, James	R	-47.0
20	Farney, Marsha	R	-44.1
21	Ritter, Allan	R	-42.5
22	Deshotel, Joe	D	23.4
23	Eiland, Craig	D	-8.3
24	Bonnen, Greg	R	-48.5
25	Bonnen, Dennis	R	-38.9
26	Miller, Rick	R	-35.4
27	Reynolds, Ron	D	35.0
28	Zerwas, John	R	-36.7
29	Thompson, Ed	R	-32.9
30	Morrison, Geanie W.	R	-39.6
31	Guillen, Ryan	D	13.7
32	Hunter, Todd	R	-23.1
33	Turner, Scott	R	-50.7
34	Herrero, Abel	D	3.7
35	Longoria, Oscar	D	24.8
36	Muñoz Jr., Sergio	D	41.7
37	Oliveira, René	D	26.8
38	Lucio III, Eddie	D	21.6
39	Martinez, Armando Mando	D	44.1
40	Canales, Terry	D	47.6
41	Guerra, Robert Bobby	D	4.4
42	Raymond, Richard Peňa	D	48.1
43	Lozano, Jose Manuel	R	-8.5
44	Kuempel, John	R	-42.2
45	Isaac, Jason A.	R	-18.8
46	Dukes, Dawnna	D	49.4
47	Workman, Paul	R	-23.8
48	Howard, Donna	D	10.2
49	Naishtat, Elliott	D	41.1
50	Strama, Mark	D	9.3
51	Rodriguez, Eddie	D	55.3
52	Gonzales, Larry	R	-21.4
53	Hilderbran, Harvey	R	-53.9
54	Aycock, Jimmie Don	R	-21.1
55	Sheffield, Ralph	R	-36.6
56	Anderson, Charles Doc	R	-40.0
57	Ashby, Trent	R	-41.0
58	Orr, Rob	R	-52.9
59	Sheffield, J.D.	R	-50.5
60	Keffer, James Jim	R	-61.0
61	King, Phil	R	-62.0
62	Phillips, Larry	R	-45.8
63	Parker, Tan	R	-50.8
64	Crownover, Myra	R	-29.2
65	Simmons, Ron	R	-27.7
66	Taylor, Van	R	-34.2
67	Leach, Jeff	R	-32.1
68	Springer, Drew	R	-54.6
69	Frank, James	R	-49.1
70	Sanford, Scott	R	-45.7
71	King, Susan	R	-52.3
72	Darby, Drew	R	-52.6
73	Miller, Doug	R	-59.6
74	Nevárez, Alfonso Poncho	D	12.1
75	González, Mary	D	37.4
76	Gonzalez, Naomi R.	D	47.7
77	Marquez, Marisa	D	20.4
78	Moody, Joseph Joe	D	-1.0
79	Pickett, Joe	D	18.1
80	King, Tracy	D	29.1
81	Lewis, Tryon	R	-52.4
82	Craddick, Tom	R	-62.4
83	Perry, Charles	R	-56.7
84	Frullo, John	R	-37.9
85	Stephenson, Phil	R	-24.1
86	Smithee, John	R	-66.3
87	Price, Walter T. Four	R	-55.4
88	King, Ken	R	-59.2
89	Laubenberg, Jodie	R	-40.9
90	Burnam, Lon	D	38.9
91	Klick, Stephanie	R	-41.2
92	Stickland, Jonathan	R	-32.1
93	Krause, Matt	R	-28.5
94	Patrick, Diane	R	-29.6
95	Collier, Nicole	D	47.4
96	Zedler, Bill	R	-22.7
97	Goldman, Craig	R	-26.6
98	Capriglione, Giovanni	R	-55.8
99	Geren, Charlie	R	-36.1
100	Johnson, Eric	D	49.4
101	Turner, Chris	D	21.1
102	Carter, Stefani	R	-18.6
103	Anchia, Rafael	D	33.3
104	Alonzo, Roberto	D	39.4
105	Harper-Brown, Linda	R	-15.3
106	Fallon, Pat	R	-43.4
107	Sheets, Kenneth	R	-13.8
108	Branch, Dan	R	-26.9
109	Giddings, Helen	D	58.3
110	Rose, Toni	D	75.4
111	Davis, Yvonne	D	49.4
112	Button, Angie Chen	R	-20.4
113	Burkett, Cindy	R	-13.6
114	Villalba, Jason	R	-21.1
115	Ratliff, Bennett	R	-24.3
116	Martinez Fischer, Trey	D	13.3
117	Cortez, Philip	D	-5.9
118	Farias, Joe	D	6.3
119	Gutierrez, Roland	D	13.2
120	McClendon, Ruth Jones	D	17.4
121	Straus, Joe	R	-32.0
122	Larson, Lyle	R	-45.0
123	Villarreal, Mike	D	15.1
124	Menéndez, José	D	12.2
125	Rodriguez, Justin	D	10.0
126	Harless, Patricia	R	-34.9
127	Huberty, Dan	R	-45.6
128	Smith, Wayne	R	-47.3
129	Davis, John E.	R	-36.4
130	Fletcher, Allen	R	-57.8
131	Allen, Alma A.	D	63.1
132	Callegari, Bill	R	-29.6
133	Murphy, Jim	R	-44.5
134	Davis, Sarah	R	-20.1
135	Elkins, Gary W.	R	-28.7
136	Dale, Tony	R	-21.1
137	Wu, Gene	D	17.1
138	Bohac, Dwayne	R	-28.8
139	Turner, Sylvester	D	45.7
140	Walle, Armando	D	37.4
141	Thompson, Senfronia	D	69.9
142	Dutton Jr., Harold	D	51.8
143	Hernandez Luna, Ana	D	33.4
144	Perez, Mary Ann	D	-0.7
145	Alvarado, Carol	D	16.3
146	Miles, Borris L.	D	52.2
147	Coleman, Garnet	D	56.2
148	Farrar, Jessica Cristina	D	10.6
149	Vo, Hubert	D	3.4
150	Riddle, Debbie	R	-45.3

District	Senator	Party	TWI
1	Eltife, Kevin	R	-42.5
2	Deuell, Bob	R	-30.0
3	Nichols, Robert	R	-46.2
4	Williams, Tommy	R	-44.6
5	Schwertner, Charles	R	-32.4
6	Garcia, Sylvia	D	30.1
7	Patrick, Dan	R	-42.8
8	Paxton, Ken	R	-33.1
9	Hancock, Kelly	R	-27.5
10	Davis, Wendy	D	-14.3
11	Taylor, Larry	R	-34.0
12	Nelson, Jane	R	-40.2
13	Ellis, Rodney	D	64.0
14	Watson, Kirk	D	17.2
15	Whitmire, John	D	12.6
16	Carona, John	R	-24.7
17	Huffman, Joan	R	-27.5
18	Hegar, Glenn	R	-38.1
19	Uresti, Carlos	D	3.4
20	Hinojosa, Juan Chuy	D	6.5
21	Zaffirini, Judith	D	11.0
22	Birdwell, Brian	R	-37.2
23	West, Royce	D	58.1
24	Fraser, Troy	R	-46.2
25	Campbell, Donna	R	-37.0
26	Van de Putte, Leticia	D	15.9
27	Lucio, Eddie	D	28.5
28	Duncan, Robert	R	-48.8
29	Rodriguez, Jose	D	21.4
30	Estes, Craig	R	-51.5
31	Seliger, Kel	R	-61.0

District	Representative	Party	TWI
2	Poe, Ted	R	-34.3
1	Gohmert, Louie	R	-44.0
3	Johnson, Sam	R	-37.7
4	Hall, Ralph	R	-43.7
5	Hensarling, Jeb	R	-32.2
6	Barton, Joe	R	-22.5
7	Culberson, John	R	-30.2
8	Brady, Kevin	R	-55.6
9	Green, Al	D	50.7
10	McCaul, Michael	R	-25.6
11	Conaway, Mike	R	-57.9
12	Granger, Kay	R	-38.0
13	Thornberry, Mac	R	-58.8
14	Weber, Randy	R	-21.7
15	Hinojosa, Ruben	D	7.5
16	O'Rourke, Beto	D	19.1
17	Flores, Bill	R	-25.4
18	Jackson Lee, Sheila	D	47.9
19	Neugebauer, Randy	R	-50.2
20	Castro, Joaquin	D	10.0
21	Smith, Lamar	R	-28.0
22	Olson, Pete	R	-31.7
23	Gallego, Pete	D	-10.4
24	Marchant, Kenny	R	-31.7
25	Williams, Roger	R	-24.2
26	Burgess, Michael	R	-42.8
27	Farenthold, Blake	R	-24.8
28	Cuellar, Henry	D	12.4
29	Green, Gene	D	28.9
30	Johnson, Eddie Bernice	D	54.7
31	Carter, John	R	-28.5
32	Sessions, Pete	R	-23.5
33	Veasey, Marc	D	36.0
34	Vela, Filemon	D	12.9
35	Doggett, Lloyd	D	19.1
36	Stockman, Steve	R	-44.4

An axiom among state politicos has proven itself true once again: Never bet against the Legislative Budget Board.

Lawmakers refused to believe the LBB when agency officials told them that the Rainy Day Fund doesn’t exist in some budgetary realm separate from the constitutional spending limit. Spending from the fund is, in fact, subject to the limit, the LBB said.

After a month of checking with lawyers and searching for a loophole, legislators are grudgingly acknowledging that the LBB was right.

“Reluctantly, I’m resigned to that,” state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, the chief budget writer of the House, said this week. “I don’t think that it’s part of the spending limit but there’s some precedent that says it is.”

Many lawmakers were hoping that the LBB was, for once, wrong, because the spending limit is proving bothersome enough this session without the Rainy Day Fund being subject to it as well.

It’s something of a fluke that the possibility of hitting the spending limit is getting such attention this session. The limit restricts state spending not dedicated by the state Constitution to the estimated growth of the Texas economy. For the next budget, that growth rate was set at 10.71 percent.

For years, conservative groups have complained that the limit is too relaxed, noting that the Legislature rarely has to worry about hitting it. That’s not the case this session, as the big budget cuts in 2011 — paired with the quick economic rebound — has meant lawmakers could bust the cap this session with little trouble.

LBB Director Ursula Parks told the House Appropriations Committee last month that lawmakers have about $4.5 billion in general revenue to spend beyond the $187.7 billion draft House budget before they hit the spending cap. Busting the cap takes a simple majority vote in the House and Senate. That's not a big mathematical hurdle, but it can be a big political one.

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, has filed a bill to exempt the Rainy Day Fund from the state’s spending limit.

Lawmakers have $11.8 billion in the Rainy Day Fund and a list of priority items. Gov. Rick Perry has called for taking at least $3.7 billion from the fund to pay for infrastructure improvements. He’s also suggested using the fund to pay for tax relief. There’s also a push to tap the fund for school finance.

At a Texas Business Leaders Council event last week, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst explained that his solution to the problem is using constitutional amendments to tap the Rainy Day Fund for specific issues such as water projects. If voters approve the spending, then it’s constitutionally dedicated — and exempted from the spending limit.

“If we use a constitutional amendment, then my lawyers tell me that will not count” toward the spending cap, Dewhurst said.

Pitts said House budget writers aren’t too crazy about relying on constitutional amendments to tap the fund.

“I know that’s his solution but we’re working on another,” Pitts said. He declined to provide details.

This week in the Newsreel: Highlights from the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, lawmakers work toward completion of the first supplemental appropriations bill and Sylvia Garcia wins the SD-6 special election.

You can view the video at: https://trib.it/10hPLKa

Lawmakers are considering — once again — a pay raise for judges in the state, a conversation that always includes a comparison of those salaries to what lawyers in the private sector make, and a reconsideration of whether lawmaker pensions should be linked to judicial pay.

We put those questions to the insiders this week. As you can see from the charts, they think judicial pay should be increased, that current pay levels keep good prospects off the bench, and that lawmaker pensions should be unlinked from judicial pay. They also said that linkage helps, rather than hurts, efforts to raise judge’s salaries.

As always, we’ve attached a full set of the verbatim answers to the survey, and a sampling follows.

Should pay for state judges in Texas be increased?

• "The salaries are low compared to big firm business litigators, but not for the vast majority of family, criminal, juvenile justice, etc. lawyers."

• "If Judges want their pay increased, they can go into private practice."

• "As with everything else, quality comes at a price."

• "Judges pay should not be increased except as part of a broader review. Legislator pay should be increased and their retirement benefits should be delinked from judicial pay. Now if legislators voted to increase judicial pay they would also be voting to increase their own already very generous retirement benefits."

• "According to the Judicial Compensation Commission's latest report, our judges have not had a pay raise since 2005. When was the last time you went 7+ years without a pay raise?"

• "They are civil servants but they should not have to struggle to make ends meet given the education requirements to be considered for the role."

• "We under-pay everyone else so chances are excellent that applies to judges."

• "Why should judicial pay be increased but not teachers? It's a service and an honor to serve and appropriate to come with some salary hardship."

Does a differential in private pay for lawyers and public pay for judges keep good jurists off the bench?

• "Lawyers with booming practices hesitate to serve -- both because it may be a pay cut and because our partisan election system can 'fire' them at a whim. Why risk a good business for such uncertainty?"

• "Absolutely not. Partisan elections of judges keep good jurists off the bench."

• "Being a judge isn't about the money. There are other benefits such as less pressure, being in charge of your own schedule, self satisfaction of the job, more respect from the community, fewer hours per week, etc."

• "There are plenty of good candidates for any opening."

• "I want jurists on the bench who truly want to serve - not because of the paycheck."

• "Texas judges are paid well more than the average lawyer but much less than the much smaller number of lawyers at the top urban Texas law firms. Many good judges choose their jobs are preferable to the maximize your billable hours pressure of top firms."

• "The lucky few who secure those Big Law jobs right out of law school (or after a judicial clerkship) start off at a higher salary than that of the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. That ain't right. We should want our best and brightest legal minds to serve on the bench, but many have families to support. It's an incredible sacrifice to them and their families to ask them to accept such huge pay cuts. I guess that's why it's called 'public service.'"

• "If you're running for judge to get rich, you probably shouldn't be a judge."

• "A state district judge's salary clearly places the judge in the top 5% of all earners in this country. While a judge's salary is lower than their private counterparts, a judge has made a decision to trade income for power. In the end, a higher salary wouldn't get you better jurists just greedier ones."

• "Maybe. I'm sure the differential in pay for teachers keep many highly qualified people from being teachers and educators. We ask those folks to sacrifice a lot more for a lot less than we ask our Judges."

Lawmaker pensions are based on judicial pay; should they be unlinked?

• "That's the only security judges have! It's a fair trade for the public service and lower income."

• "Lawmakers pensions should be linked to something over which they have no direct control. Why not tie their pensions to per capita income? This way, if the 'people' of Texas are doing better, so will the lawmakers."

• "Covert way to help legislators without them actually voting on the benefit to them."

• "Come on! Really? Tie it to the average teacher pension and watch teacher salaries rise as a result."

• "No, unless we are going to pay our 'citizen legislators' a living wage. Lawmakers should first and foremost be paid for the full-time job they have."

• "I'm not sure they should get pensions at all. It's a part time job."

• "But only in the context of changing the way legislators are compensated. It is almost impossible for most Texans to be a member of the legislature because of the way they are compensated. Some provision needs to be made for retirement, but the current system goes over the top on the retirement side to offset the low compensation for the job."

• "And base lawmaker retirement on $7,200 per year when they sacrifice years of earning potential to serve in the Lege - years during which they might have funded a retirement account were it not for the public service? Uh, no."

• "It’s the only way either side gets paid."

Does the link to lawmaker pensions help judges get pay raises or create an obstacle for them?

• "The problem with tethering is that it allows the primary opponent to argue that a legislator voted herself a pension increase when what she did was vote for a pay raise for judges."

• "If it helps judges get pay raises, then why haven't judges received a pay raise since 2005? A pay raise is a pay raise, and if the public won't tolerate it, it won't happen. And that's why judges haven't had a pay raise since 2005."

• "If the legislature raises judicial pay, the campaign ad simply says member X increased his or her own pension."

• "State lawmakers have a personal financial interest in boosting judicial pay. It would be corrupt if it weren't the law."

• "More often than not it keeps judicial salaries low because lawmakers are hesitant to raise their own salaries -- or they should be."

• "This sort of misses the point. District judges are at the bottom of the state judicial branch. Legislators are t the bottom of the state legislative branch. Parity in retirement is fair."

• "Of course it's an obstacle. It's been 8 years since judges last had a raise! The linkage benefits lawmakers, not judges."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Jenny Aghamalian, Jennifer Ahrens, Victor Alcorta, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Doc Arnold, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Dave Beckwith, Amy Beneski, Rebecca Bernhardt, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, David Cabrales, Kerry Cammack, Marc Campos, Thure Cannon, Janis Carter, William Chapman, Elna Christopher, James Clark, John Colyandro, Harold Cook, Kevin Cooper, Beth Cubriel, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, June Deadrick, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, Neftali Garcia, Norman Garza, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Eric Glenn, Kinnan Golemon, Daniel Gonzalez, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Anthony Haley, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Adam Haynes, Susan Hays, Ken Hodges, Deborah Ingersoll, Cal Jillson, Jason Johnson, Bill Jones, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Ramey Ko, Sandy Kress, Pete Laney, Luke Legate, Leslie Lemon, Ruben Longoria, Matt Mackowiak, Luke Marchant, Phillip Martin, Dan McClung, Parker McCollough, Scott McCown, Mike McKinney, Robert Miller, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Keith Oakley, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Wayne Pierce, Richard Pineda, Allen Place, Kraege Polan, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Ted Melina Raab, Bill Ratliff, Patrick Reinhart, Stan Schlueter, Bruce Scott, Robert Scott, Dan Shelley, Bradford Shields, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Jason Stanford, Keith Strama, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Gerard Torres, Trent Townsend, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Ware Wendell, Ken Whalen, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

Monday, March 11

• Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Matters hearing (9 a.m.)
• House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budget Transparency and Reform Committee hearing (10 a.m.)
• House International Trade and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing (10 a.m.)
• Senate Administration Committee hearing (11 a.m.)
• Senate Nominations Committee hearing (11 a.m.)
• House Elections Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Government Efficiency and Reform Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Investments and Financial Services Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Pensions Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Ways and Means Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• Senate Open Government Committee hearing (2 p.m.)
• House Economic and Small Business Development Subcommittee on Manufacturing hearing (2:30 p.m.)
• Senate Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security Committee hearing (2:30 p.m.)

Tuesday, March 12

• House Appropriations Committee hearing (7:30 a.m.)
• House Natural Resources Committee hearing (8 a.m.)
• House Transportation Committee hearing (8 a.m.)
• Senate Government Organization Committee hearing (8 a.m.)
• Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing (9 a.m.)
• House Business and Industry Committee hearing (10:30 a.m.)
• House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee hearing (10:30 a.m.)
• House Human Services Committee hearing (10:30 a.m.)
• House Transparency in State Agency Operations Select Committee (11 a.m.)
• House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee hearing (noon)
• Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing (1:30 p.m.)
• House Jurisprudence Committee hearing (1:30 p.m.)
• House Public Education Committee hearing (2 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 13

• House Appropriations Committee hearing (7:30 a.m.)
• House Agriculture and Livestock Committee hearing (8 a.m.)
• Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee hearing (1:30 p.m.)
• House Corrections Committee hearing (2 p.m.)

Thursday, March 14

• House Appropriations Committee hearing (7:30 a.m.)

From the five-day rollout of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll: Rick Perry would beat Greg Abbott 3-1 in a Republican primary for governor held today; Texans don’t want a lot of new gun laws but would overwhelmingly support mental health and criminal background checks on all gun sales; the federal government is on the wrong track and immigration and border security top state problem lists; Texans’ position on abortion isn’t changed, but they would support a “fetal pain” ban on abortions after 20 weeks; a surcharge based on water use beats a tap fee as a way to finance infrastructure projects; and Republicans and Democrats utterly disagree on whether Texas should have to get federal permission to change its election laws under the Voting Rights Act.

Saying it’s time “get our heads out of the sand,” House Speaker Joe Straus said lawmakers should find a Medicaid expansion plan they can support. He wants to balance lawmakers’ objections to expanding the current system — many members think it’s a mess and would waste money — and the tens of billions of federal money the expansion would bring into the state. 

State leaders told the Texas Water Development Board to come up with a new list of projects, and that list is now public — and starting the predictable squabbling. The unofficial document, done at the request of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, among others, includes at least five large reservoir projects. 

Texas could pay off all of its transportation debt with a temporary half-cent increase in the sales tax, according to Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, who proposed a constitutional amendment to do just that. The tax would be 6.75 (local governments can add up to two cents to that); the state’s transportation debt is $13 billion. Eltife said the savings in debt service would total about $1 billion a year.

An innocence commission, more funding for indigent defense and a reconsideration of school discipline were key points in this year’s State of the Judiciary address from Wallace Jefferson, chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. 

Ann Bishop, the head of the Employee Retirement System and, for just a little bit, the chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry, got a $162,500 bonus before leaving ERS for the governor’s office last year. Now she’s back in her old spot at that agency, where her salary is $325,000 per year. All of that has lawmakers calling for a review of executive director salaries across state government. 

Sylvia Garcia beat fellow Houston Democrat Carol Alvarado in the special election runoff to succeed the late Mario Gallegos in the Texas Senate. She’s doing a final blitz of fundraisers and might be sworn in within a week. She got 53 percent to Alvarado’s 47 percent. 

Barry Burgdorf, general counsel and vice chairman at the University of Texas System, will leave that post at the end of April. He resigned, and is the latest in a steady stream of departures there. 

Robert Brescia is the new executive director of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute at the University of Texas-Permian Basin. He was previously CEO of the Community Care College System in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

• former Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade of San Antonio to the Texas Workforce Commission.

• Anna Maria Farias of Brownsville, Nancy Paup of Fort Worth, and George Schrader of Dallas to the Texas Woman’s University board of regents. Farias is an attorney. Paup is a fundraising consultant. Schrader is an investor and former city manager.

• Norman Darwin of Benbrook as Injured Employee Public Counsel, which helps with claims in the workers’ compensation system, to another term.

• Alex Meade III of Mission and Bill Dietz Jr. of Waco as directors of the State Affordable Housing Corp. Meade is CEO of the Mission Economic Development Corp. Dietz is an executive with Extraco Banks.

• Rob Kyker of Richardson to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. He’s the owner of R&D Sales and Leasing.

• Angelos Angelou of Austin and former state Rep. Gerry Geistweidt of Mason to the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute’s oversight committee. Angelou is an economist. Geistweidt is an attorney.

Deaths: Mary Margaret Farabee, co-founder of the Texas Book Festival and wife of former Sen. Ray Farabee, from cancer. She was 73.

Former Rep. Dick Slack of Pecos, a Democrat who served from 1953 to 1981. He was 98.