Billy Hall (Texas politician)

William N. "Billy" Hall, Jr. (August 20, 1940 – February 19, 2002), was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from Laredo, Texas, who served in District 57 from 1973 to 1987.^[1] He was subsequently the county treasurer of Webb County from 1995 until his death.

Background

In 1959, Hall graduated from Martin High School, where he was a football player. The Martin team on which Hall played won the district championship in 1958. In 1963, Hall graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. He was the former publisher of the South Texas Citizen, a newspaper started by his father, William Hall, Sr. Thereafter, Hall, Jr., sold the paper to a businessman in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. A former teacher, Hall was later like his House predecessor Honoré Ligarde an officer with the International Bank of Commerce owned by former gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez of Laredo.

Political career

Hall's House tenure corresponded with the administrations of Governors Dolph Briscoe, Bill Clements, and Mark Wells White. He did not seek an eighth two-year term in 1986 but instead contested the Democratic primary for the Texas State Senate, having lost to fellow Democrat Judith Zaffirini, a public relations specialist from Laredo. In the legislature, Hall was a strong advocate of Laredo State University (subsequently Texas A&M International University and located on a new campus off the Bob Bullock Expressway in east Laredo. Hall was a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, chaired the Law Enforcement and Liquor Regulation committees, and served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee.

In 1987, Republican Governor Bill Clements named the Democrat Hall to the National Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.^[2]

Entrance to the William N. "Billy" Hall Administrative Building annex of the Webb County Courthouse.

The William N. "Billy" Hall, Jr. Student Union building at Laredo Community College South Campus

In January 1995, Hall was appointed Webb County treasurer by the commissioners court after the previous treasurer, Mike Urdiales, resigned to become one of the four precinct commissioners. Hall was elected to a full term in 1998, but he died of congestive heart failure during the primary campaign of 2002, when he was a candidate for a second term. Hall's great-grandfather, A. M. Bruni, was also a Webb County treasurer. Hall was succeeded as treasurer by fellow Democrat Delia Perales, who in the general election defeated the Republican candidate, the late Joe A. Guerra, a former five-term member of the Laredo City Council.

In 2007, the Webb County Commissioners Court named the county administrative building after Hall. There is a bronze bust of Hall in the lobby of the building.^[3] Hall is also honored through the William N. "Billy" Hall Student Center on the Laredo Community College South Campus, located off U.S. Highway 83 in southeastern Laredo.

Hall was married to the former Annabelle Uribe (born ca. 1947). Their son is William Hall, III.

References