About Todd

State Representative Todd Hunter

-Todd A. Hunter is serving his sixth term in the Texas House of Representatives. He was first elected to public office in 1988 and retired from public service in 1997 so that he could help raise his three young children with his wife Alexis. In 2008, Todd was elected as a Republican representing District 32 composed of Aransas, Calhoun, San Patricio and part of Nueces County. He is currently the senior partner of Hunter and Handel, P.C. in Corpus Christi.

Born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1953, Todd earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1975 and his J.D. from Southern Methodist University in 1978. He has lived in the Corpus Christi area for over 30 years where he met and married his wife, the former Alexis Taylor. They have three children: Todd Jr., a graduate of Texas A&M University – College Station who is attending law school at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio; Michael, a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio who is attending graduate school at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; and Christina, who is attending the University of Texas-Austin.

Hunter has been active in numerous community and civic affairs as a sponsor for youth league baseball teams and a director and advisory board member for the Coastal Bend Boy Scouts of America. He has also served as a board member of numerous other civic groups, including the Consumer Credit Counseling Service and Texas Lyceum Association. Todd is a member of the Corpus Christi Rotary Club, of the Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, and of numerous business and civic organizations throughout District 32.

Legislative Practices

Todd completed four terms in the Texas House of Representatives after first being elected to office in 1988. He was elected in 2008 to a fifth term. He serves District 32 which includes Aransas, Calhoun and San Patricio Counties and part of Nueces County.

At the start of his sixth term, during the 82nd Legislative Session, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Joe Straus, named Hunter as Chairman of the Calendars Committee. As Chairman, Hunter will lead the committee designated to determine when and how legislation will be considered by Texas House members. Hunter was also named as a member of the Redistricting, Corrections, General Investigating and Ethics and Human Services committees. He will continue to serve as chair of the Select Committee on Elections.

During the 81st Legislative Session, Hunter served as Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence. As Chairman, he oversaw a committee that has broad jurisdiction over legislation pertaining to civil law, probate, and guardianship matters. It also has jurisdiction over all appellate courts in the state, including the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Hunter also served on the Insurance and the General Investigating and Ethics Committees. Hunter was also named to the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding and was Co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Redistricting and Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence.

During his previous tenure in the legislature, Hunter served as Chairman of the House Committee on Civil Practices and was a key player in important issues, such as tort reform and education. He served on numerous other important House committees, including the Ways and Means, Elections, Calendars, Urban Affairs and Higher Education committees. Additionally, Hunter served on the powerful Appropriations Committee for two terms and was named Chairman of the Subcommittee on Education and Vice Chair of the State Affairs Committee.

Todd has received numerous accolades throughout his legislative career. He was named the “Newsmaker Of The Year” for 1996 by the Corpus Christi Caller Times. The newspaper stated that “Todd Hunter leaves a prolific legacy,” and that he established a legacy of service. Following the 74th legislative Session in 1995, Hunter was honored by a number of groups for his leadership and accomplishments. He was selected by the Harte-Hanks newspapers as one of the “Best of the Best” legislators, was given an honorable mention by Texas Monthly magazine and was cited as one of the five legislators who had a “career year”. Also in 1995, Leadership Corpus Christi Alumni named Hunter its Outstanding Alumni of the Year, the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission presented Rep. Hunter with the Harry Gibson Statesmanship Award, the Texas Medical Association recognized him as one of Texas Medicine’s Best Legislators, and Texas Business magazine named Todd Hunter a “Friend of Business”. In previous sessions, he was cited by the Corpus Christi Caller Times and the Dallas Morning News as a rising star in the Texas Legislature and received accolades from the Texas Chamber of Commerce, Texans for Financial Responsibility, and the Texas Municipal League.

Hunter was known as a key player in the successful effort to pass tort reform. He was also instrumental in passing legislation that made Texas A&M University Corpus Christi a four-year university and fought for better funding to build the university. He co-sponsored the Tuition Revenue Bond Bill and passed legislation to give statutory existence to the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON), and authored a bill to help coastal ports and waterways. He is the author of the bill creating a Distance Learning Master Plan for colleges and universities in Texas. He sponsored a bill protecting the privacy of boat and outboard motor owners requiring written, rather than oral, request for information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Always interested in bringing affordable and more available insurance to his legislative district, . Hunter passed windstorm insurance reform legislation in 1991 and 1993 and slab foundation reform legislation in 1995. He passed legislation allowing Gulf Coast counties to use part of the hotel-motel tax it generates for tourism promotion efforts and was responsible for a law that transferred the state beach cleaning funds to the General Land Office.

During the 81st Legislative Session, Representative Hunter was the only “Freshman” named as a Chairperson and according to Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), he “provided wise and courageous leadership” for the House Committee that handled most of the civil justice bills. Along with several other members of the committee, Hunter “stood up to relentless pressure” in order to stop anti-tort reform bills in their tracks, a feat which earned him high regards on the TLR Honor Roll for the Session.

Reform of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency (TWIA) was considered an emergency item by Governor Rick Perry, and after months of protecting the Coast from punitive legislation proposed by inland Representatives and patiently reminding everyone that a healthy and prosperous Coast was good for Texas as a whole, Hunter was appointed to the Conference Committee for a previously-punitive windstorm bill and successfully hammered out the most comprehensive TWIA reform in a decade. In recognition of his tireless efforts on behalf of his and all Coastal constituents, Hunter was honored by Nueces County as “Dr. Windstorm”. In addition, the House Republican Caucus presented him with the “Coastal Watchman Award”.

Additional awards for his efforts during the 81st Legislative Session include the James Madison Award presented by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas for his work on the “Free Flow of Information Act”, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.’s Free Enterprise Champion Award, Texas Medical Association’s Friend of Medicine Award, Texas Civil Justice League’s Jobs for Texas Award, TLR’s Civil Justice Leadership Award, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas’ “Best of the House” Legislative honors, and the Central Texas Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse’s Champion award.