James Earl Laney, known as Pete Laney (born March 20, 1943), is a U. S. Democratic Party politician from West Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 2007. A resident of Hale Center, near Plainview in Hale County, Laney served as House Speaker from 1993 to 2003, a record matching that set by his predecessor, fellow Democrat Gib Lewis of Fort Worth, whose tenure as Speaker extended from 1983 to 1993.
