Background
He was the former publisher of the South Texas Citizen, a newspaper started by his father, William Hall, Senior Thereafter, Hall, Junior., sold the paper to a businessman in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
He was the former publisher of the South Texas Citizen, a newspaper started by his father, William Hall, Senior Thereafter, Hall, Junior., sold the paper to a businessman in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
In 1959, Hall graduated from Martin High School, where he was a football player. In 1963, Hall graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism.
He was subsequently the county treasurer of Webb County from 1995 until his death. 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 Agricultural and Mechanical International University and located on a new campus off the Bob Bullock Expressway in east Laredo.
In 1987, Republican Governor Bill Clements named the Democrat Hall to the National Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. 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.
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. Hall is also honored through the "Billy" Hall Student Center on the Laredo Community College South Campus, located off United States. Highway 83 in southeastern Laredo. Hall was married to the former Annabelle Uribe (born ca 1947).
Their son is William Hall, III.
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. 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.