Geanie Morrison

Texas state legislator

Geanie Morrison

Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 30th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 12, 1999
Preceded by	Steve Holzheauser

Personal details
Born	(1950-10-06) October 6, 1950 (age 73)
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jack Morrison Jr.
Children	2

Geanie Williams Morrison (born October 6, 1950)^[1] is a Texas state representative from Victoria. A Republican, she has represented District 30 since January 12, 1999.^[2]^[3]

Personal life

Morrison attended Victoria College.^[1] She has two children and two grandchildren with her husband Jack.^[4]

Career

Before serving in the House of Representatives, Morrison served as the executive director of the Governor's Commission for Women.^[3] She was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Commission for Volunteerism and Community Service and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission.^[3]

Legislative career

In 1999, Morrison introduced legislation creating the Safe-haven law. This law decriminalizes the leaving of unharmed infants with statutorily designated private persons so that the child becomes a ward of the state in order to eliminate child abandonment. Morrison's legislation became a blueprint and by 2008 similar laws were adopted across the country.^[5]

Morrison was the first chairperson of the Environmental Regulation Committee when it was created in 2015.^[6] As part of her work on the committee, she championed a bill that weakened environmental protections in an effort to encourage employers to move to Texas or to stay in the state.^[7]

In 2018, she was elected to the 86th legislature with 74.7% of the vote, beating Robin Hayter.^[8] Morrison served on the Culture, Recreation & Tourism Committee, the Environmental Regulation Committee, the Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety Committee, and chaired the Local & Consent Calendars Committee.^[3] She represented parts of Aransas, Calhoun, De Witt, Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria counties.^[3]

Morrison had a primary challenger^[9] but was unopposed in the 2020 general election.^[2] She briefly was in the running to become Speaker of the House for the 87th legislature, but withdrew after only a week, throwing her support to Dade Phelan.^[2] Later, she put her name back into contention for the speakership.^[10] Her office was involved in removing a statue of a Confederate soldier in 2020.^[11]

On May 27, 2023, Morrison voted against impeaching Ken Paxton.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b "Rep. Geanie W. Morrison (R)". Texas State Director. January 4, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "State Rep. Geanie Morrison withdraws from race for speaker of the Texas House". Victoria, Texas: Voctoria Advocate. November 5, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Biography". Texas House of Representatives. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ "Jack R. Morrison Jr". Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management. 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ "State Rep. Geanie W. Morrison District 30 (R-Victoria)". The Texas Tribune.
^ Malewitz, Jim (November 5, 2015). "New Texas House Committee to Examine Range of EPA Rules". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ Malewitz, Jim (May 24, 2015). "Abbott Signs Bill to Speed Permits, Limit Protests". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ "Texas Representative Geanie W. Morrison". The Texas Tribune.
^ Svitek, Patrick (February 13, 2020). "Greg Abbott plans pre-primary tour supporting GOP state House incumbents, candidates". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ Barragán, James (November 4, 2020). "State Rep. Dade Phelan says he has the votes to be next speaker of Texas House; GOP rivals say race not over". The Dallas News. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ "UHV creates task force to promote diversity, inclusion". University of Houston-Victoria. October 14, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
^ Astudillo, Carla and Chris Essig. Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House. See how each representative voted., Texas Tribune, May 27, 2023.