State Senator Jane Nelson represents District 12, which includes portions of Denton and Tarrant counties. She is a businesswoman and former teacher who served two terms on the State Board of Education before joining the Texas Senate.

Senator Nelson, the first woman in Texas legislative history to chair a standing budget-writing committee, serves as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which shapes the state budget and crafts fiscal policy for Texas. As chair of Finance, Senator Nelson also serves as a member of the Legislative Budget Board, a body of five Senate and five House representatives that sets the constitutional spending limit and develops the draft appropriations bill.

She also serves as the co-chair of the Transition Legislative Oversight Committee, which monitors the reorganization of Texas' health and human services agencies. She is also a member of the State Affairs Committee, the Legislative Budget Board, and the Legislative Audit Committee. Before becoming chair of Finance, Senator Nelson was the longest-serving chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. She is the highest ranking Republican in the Senate.

Her many accomplishments include measures to dedicate lottery proceeds to education; assist victims of domestic violence and better protect abused children. Last session, she championed $1.2B in tax relief; overhauled HHS agencies and created a grant program for veterans mental health. She has been named #1 Legislator Power Ranking by Capitol Inside, 25 Women to Watch by Fort Worth Better Business Bureau and Champion of Free Enterprise by Texas Association of Business.

Senator Nelson was listed one of the Top 10 most effective legislators this decade by Capitol Inside. Out of all 50 states, she was selected as the National Distinguished Cancer Advocate of the Year in 2005. She has been named a Fighter for Free Enterprise by Texas Association of Business; "Texas' Best Medicine" by the Texas Medical Association; Most Conservative by Young Conservatives of Texas; and a Champion for Texas Children by Texas CASA.