State Representative Penny Morales Shaw is an attorney in Houston, where she represents constituents in House District 148. Penny is currently serving her 3rd term at the Texas House of Representatives. During the last Legislative Session, Representative Shaw served on the State House Committee on Environmental Regulations and the Defense and Veteran Affairs committee. This session, she continues serving on the House Environmental Regulations committee, and now also serves on the House Elections committee. She is a member of the Women’s Health Caucus, the Technology Caucus, and is a founding member of both the Climate and Energy Caucus. Her legislation last session focused on improving college graduation rates, healthcare access, environmental protections, and youth pre-trial criminal justice.  

Penny is a native Texas and attended Houston public schools. She is a mother, daughter of an Air Force veteran, and has practiced law for two decades. As an attorney, Penny worked for a civil rights law firm and later opened her own practice, where she dedicated a branch of her practice to working with the federal government to pass humanitarian laws such as the International Violence Against Women Act. Prior to being elected to the Texas House of Representatives, Shaw served as a Deputy Chief for Harris County Commissioners Court where she developed the County’s legislative policy priorities.

Understanding the challenges that face working families drives her advocacy both at the Capitol and in her practice.