Allen Craig Eiland (born April 4, 1962) is a Democratic former member and

Speaker pro Tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

. From 2003 until 2015, Eiland represented Texas House District 23, which includes

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, Jamaica Beach,

Texas City Texas City is a city in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and pe ...

, and the

Bolivar Peninsula Bolivar Peninsula ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,417 at the 2010 census. The communities of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Caplen, Gilchrist, and High Island are located on ...

Galveston County Galveston County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located along the Gulf Coast adjacent to Galveston Bay. As of the 2020 census, the population was 350,682. The county was founded in 1838. The county seat is the City of Galveston, ...

and all of

Chambers County Chambers County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Chambers County, Alabama * Chambers County, Texas Chambers County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 46,571. The county seat is ...

. Prior to redistricting in 2003, Eiland was the member for House District 24, which roughly covered all of Galveston County west of

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

. Eiland was first elected to the House in 1994. For eight years he served on the Insurance and Appropriations committees, including four years as Vice Chair of the Insurance Committee and two years as chair of the House Pensions and Investments Committee. In 2009, Speaker

Joe Straus Joseph Richard Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, ...

named Eiland the House Speaker Pro-tempore, a job which entails leading the house in Speaker Straus' absence. Eiland was also named to the powerful House Appropriations committee and the Insurance committee. In 2011 Beverly Woolley of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

was chosen to replace Eiland after Republicans captured a

super majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

of seats (101 out of 150) in the 2010 elections. He is viewed by his colleagues as an expert on insurance matters and the state budget in general and the

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...

and

CHIP Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genomi ...

program budgets specifically. ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' magazine has also named Eiland one of Texas' 10 Best Lawmakers. In the November 4, 2014,

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, Eiland did not seek reelection. Eiland served on the House Appropriations Committee and was the vice chairman of the Insurance Committee. A native of Stanton in Martin County, Eiland resides on

Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. T ...

. He and his wife, the former Melissa Orebaugh, have four children (William Gray Eiland, Delaney Eiland, Blake Eiland, and Robert Tucker Eiland). They are members of Moody Memorial First

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

in Galveston.

References

External links

Representative Craig Eiland
official Texas House of Representatives site * 1962 births Living people People from Stanton, Texas Lawyers from Galveston, Texas Politicians from Galveston, Texas Baylor Bears football players Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians Texas lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians {{TX-politician-stub