A state Senate committee has approved Gov. Greg Abbott's three nominees for the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
Former UT regent Janiece Longoria, ex-state Sen. Kevin Eltife and businessman Rad Weaver have been tapped for six-year terms.
The committee voted 5-0 on Thursday to approve them, sending the nominations to the full Senate, where approval is expected to come easily.
Abstaining was Houston Democratic Sen. Borris Miles. He and the Senate's only other black member, Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West, have criticized Abbott for not choosing any African-Americans.
The three would succeed regents Wallace Hall, Alex Cranberg and Brenda Pejovich.
Hall has sued UT to get access to hundreds of thousands of pages of emails, interview notes and other records. Cranberg and Pejovich were Hall allies.
