Gov. Rick Perry directed the Texas Department of Insurance to establish strict rules to regulate so-called navigators trained to help Texans purchase health coverage under "Obamacare." While the governor says the extra regulations will ensure that people handling Texans’ private financial and health information are properly trained and qualified, the rules could present a significant roadblock to organizations helping to implement the federal Affordable Care Act. Along with many other provisions in President Obama’s signature health reform law, the individual mandate to purchase health insurance is set to take effect on Jan. 1. 

In addition to having the highest rate of people without health insurance in the nation, Texas also has the largest number of children without health insurance and the highest rate of poor adults without health insurance, according to 2012 American Community Survey estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau this week. More than 852,000 Texas children lacked health insurance in 2012, according to the ACS estimates, which are taken from a random sampling of households throughout the year. California, which has 2.2 million more children than Texas, had the second-highest number of uninsured children at 717,000.

Former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s political money laundering and conspiracy convictions were overturned by the state’s 3rd Court of Appeals. “Based on the totality of the evidence, we conclude that the evidence presented does not support a conclusion that DeLay committed the crimes that were charged,” the judges ruled. “The fundamental problem with the State’s case was its failure to prove proceeds of criminal activity.” The decision reversed DeLay's trial court conviction. The Travis County district attorney's office prosecuted DeLay, and plans to ask the full Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review the ruling. 

Citing a late change in the nondiscrimination ordinance that San Antonio recently passed, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state is now unlikely to file suit. A clause that disallowed appointed city officials to “demonstrate a bias, by word or deed” was deleted from the ordinance before the San Antonio City Council passed it on Sept. 5 with an 8-3 vote. The ordinance is aimed at preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Two groups representing minority voters and officeholders sued to block the state’s new voter ID law, which will be used for the first time in a statewide Texas election this November  — barring intervention by a court. The new law requires voters to show an approved photo identification card when they vote. Its requirements “have a discriminatory effect ... and were enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose,” according to the lawsuit filed against the state by the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches and the Texas House’s Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

There is a new Senate Select Committee on Transportation Funding, set up by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to oversee highway improvements — including, specifically, “roads targeted for conversion from paved to unpaved.” Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, will chair; Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville (and a former highway commissioner), was named vice chairman.

Dewhurst appointed Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, to chair the Sunset Advisory Commission, and appointed Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, to that panel. 

Becky Motal, general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, will retire at the end of the year. She’s been in that job in July 2011. LCRA has been under fire during the drought, trying to balance competing interests from Central Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.

Kevin Patteson is the new executive director at the Texas Water Development Board. He is currently the director of the state’s Office of State-Federal Relations and is a former assistant general counsel to Gov. Rick Perry. 

William Briggs and Daniel Bravo take over as the new CFO and COO, respectively, at the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Briggs, a CPA, has worked in state government accounting for more than 30 years. Bravo was in charge of regional administrative services at the state’s Health and Human Services Commission. 

Allison Castle, the governor’s director of communications, is leaving for the Texas Department of Insurance, where she will become deputy commissioner for public affairs. 

Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, picked up an endorsement from the Texas Home School Coalition Association in his bid for attorney general. 

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

• Jodie Baggett of Ozona and Katie Stavinoha of The Woodlands to the Texas Lottery Commission. Baggett is a partner in a family-owned ranching operation; Stavinoha is a former public affairs director for Koch Companies Public Sector and served as a spokesperson for several state agencies before that. 

• Harold Hahn, chairman and CEO of Rocky Mountain Mortgage, to chair the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He had been the vice chairman. The governor chose Robert Jenkins Jr. of Austin — president of ABC Home and Commercial Services — to be vice chairman.

• Jason Hester of Leander, Johnny Lovejoy II of San Antonio and Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson of Canyon to the exas Commission on Law Enforcement. Hester is a major at the Texas Department of Public Safety and Lovejoy is president and CEO of Lovejoy & Associates.

• Catherine Rodewald of Dallas, retired president of Prudential Asset Resources, to the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.