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State Representative Veronica Gonzales
State Representative Veronica Gonzales is serving her third term in the Texas House of Representatives representing District 41. First elected in 2004, Gonzales is the first female elected to represent District 41, which is contained entirely in Hidalgo County and includes portions of McAllen, Edinburg and Mission.
Representative Gonzales currently serves as Chair of the Border & Intergovernmental Affairs Committee and is serving her second session on the Public Health Committee. Representative Gonzales has earned many accomplishments. In her first term, Representative Gonzales was elected by her colleagues to serve as Secretary of the State Democratic Caucus. She passed the highest percentage of bills by any Democrat legislator in the House and was recognized as Freshman of the Year by the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus (MALC). She was named a “Legislator to Watch” by the Texas Observer and as an “Emerging Leader” by the Dallas Morning News. In her second session, Representative Gonzales was re-elected as Secretary of the State Democratic Caucus, elected as Secretary of MALC and named Chair of MALC’s Immigration Task Force. During her third term in office, MALC elected her to serve as the organization’s General Counsel. Speaker Joe Straus R- San Antonio selected Representative Gonzales to Chair the House Committee on Border & Intergovernmental Affairs, making her the only Hidalgo County representative to chair a House Committee. Speaker Straus also appointed her to serve on the National Conference of State Legislators Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Taskforce.
Representative Gonzales has passed numerous pieces of legislation to address the diverse needs of her district. Her legislation includes: increasing regulations of the towing industry; attracting physicians to medically underserved areas by increasing their medical school loan forgiveness; protecting abuse victims with an address confidentiality program; protecting youth along the border with a bi-national substance abuse task force; assuring that divorced parents get all the visitation time permitted; assuring that border citizens have sufficient water by converting water rights from irrigation to municipal use; widening the pool of people who can become police officers; providing lighting for the streets of and disaster relief to colonias; helping students finish college sooner and pay their tuition in payments; giving families increased access to their local museum; creating new courts for Hidalgo county; increasing a juror’s pay; protecting home buyers from purchasing a home that has been used for the production of methamphetamines; allowing for wine-tasting in wine-only package stores; promoting products made in Texas with a “Genuine Texas” seal, and the list goes on and on.
She was selected to join the Aspen-Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership Program, an organization consisting of only 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats considered rising stars in the nation who are brought together to discuss issues of democratic governance and effective public service. Representative Gonzales is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Lyceum Association, a statewide leadership organization that studies critical issues affecting Texas and the nation.
Representative Gonzales was raised in San Marcos, Texas. As the first in her family to go to college, Gonzales understands the importance of a quality education. She graduated cum laude from Southwest Texas State University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Spanish. After completing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled in the University of Texas School of Law and earned her Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1991. She is a name partner in the law firm of Kittleman, Thomas & Gonzales, L.L.P., and has served her legal community in various positions. She was elected president of the Hidalgo County Young Lawyers Association, president of the Hidalgo County Bar Association and panel chair of the 12B Grievance Committee, the committee that regulates lawyers. She earned the Texas Center Professionalism Award for her ethics from the Hidalgo County Bar Association. In 2008, she was recognized as one of 30 “Extraordinary Woman in Law” by Texas Lawyer, and was named a Super Lawyer by The Texas Super Lawyers in 2008 and 2009. She is a member of many organizations and sits on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, South Texas College and Texas Rural Legal Aid. |