Rep. Morales Shaw, Penny

Biography

State Representative Penny Morales Shaw is an attorney in Houston, Texas, where she represents the 148th District in the Texas House of Representatives, which includes parts of Spring Branch, Garden Oaks / Oak Forest, Carverdale, and Cypress-Fairbanks. During the 87th Legislative Session, Penny served on the House Committee on Environmental Regulation and the House Committee on Urban Affairs. For her accomplishments as a legislator, she was awarded "Freshman of the Year" by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. She is a member of the House Innovation & Technology Caucus, the House LGBTQ Caucus, the Legislative Study Group, the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus (MALC), the Texas Legislative Ports Caucus, the Texas Women’s Health Caucus, and a founding member of both the Democratic Progressive Caucus and the House Caucus on Climate, Environment, and the Energy Industry.

Penny is a native Houstonian, attended Houston public schools, and has lived in northwest Houston for the past ten years, where she raised four successful children as a single mother while managing her multi-state law practice.

Penny understands the challenges that face working families and this shapes the passion and pragmatism that drive her advocacy: from serving as an attorney at NAACP legal clinics early in her career, to fighting for passage of the International Violence Against Women Act, to her role as Deputy Chief for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 2, where she oversaw policy and legislative affairs.

Penny is honored to bring this breadth of experience as the State Representative for District 148 in the Texas House of Representatives.