Victoria Neave, whose Texas House district extends from Lakewood to Mesquite, has been named freshman legislator of the year by the Texas Democratic Caucus.
Though freshmen legislators rarely sponsor many bills, Neave was a force in Austin. She filed 29 bills, nine of which made it to the house floor for a vote, and five of which passed. As one of just 29 women in Texas’ congress out of 150 legislators, she was determined to have her first bill be in support of women’s issues. She passed a bill that will add $4 million in funding to test Texas’ backlog of rape kits, and allow citizens to donate towards this effort when they get a state issued ID and during vehicle registration, which she hopes will add up to $1 million per year to the fund. She also passed a bill to name Women’s Veterans Day June 12, as Texas has the most women in the military of any state. There was no mention of her recent DWI arrest.
Neave spoke with Rep. Jason Villalba at the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s legislative update on Thursday morning. Villalba, whose district extends through Lake Highlands and Preston Hollow, spoke about both representatives shared efforts to better fund Child Protective Services, and lamented the rest of his party’s inability to better fund public education. He spoke about how many of his colleagues value ideology over the needs of people, and called these conservative ideologues a “band of idiot pirates.”
They also spoke about the legislature’s work to make Dallas’ police and fire pension solvent for the next 40 years, which was passed during this year’s tumultuous session.
