AUSTIN (KXAN), by: Erica Pauda, Roo Moody, 3/6/24 — On Wednesday, State Rep. Vikki Goodwin provided more details on new water safety measures in place under Cati’s Act as a way to minimize drownings of children under 12 through stricter water safety measures.

Goodwin and State Sen. Judith Zaffirini hosted a press conference Wednesday morning ahead of spring break to spark a discussion on the importance of Cati’s Act between community leaders, water safety advocates as well as legislators, a news release from Goodwin’s office said.

by Michael Adkison, Wed, December 6th 2023, AUSTIN, Texas — It was late Tuesday night, stretching into Wednesday morning when law enforcement began to confirm a series of shootings across Central Texas were committed by a single suspect...

Taking into consideration that that confirmation did not come into the evening, some Austin-area residents told CBS Austin they were concerned about a lack of communication from law enforcement officials after each of the incidents, particularly as it pertains to the suspect, at the time, being at large.

Texas House Democrat Vikki Goodwin, who represents part of Austin, publicly expressed concerns with the communication throughout the string of violence on Tuesday.

"That's our job, is to make sure our communities are safe," Rep. Goodwin told CBS Austin in an interview. "Again, they didn't know it was the same shooter, but they also didn't know that it wasn't the same shooter and they could have put out an alert about the South Austin neighborhood, which they neglected to do."

Goodwin specifically cited a statute from the 87th legislature, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in 2021, that would permit the Department of Public Safety to send a text warning of an active shooter in a general vicinity, including if requested by local law enforcement like the Austin Police Department.

by: Brianna Hollis, Julianna Russ, Posted: Dec 6, 2023 / 05:42 PM CST, AUSTIN (KXAN) –Several people – including neighbors and a state representative – expressed concerns about law enforcement not issuing some kind of active shooter alert as a suspect allegedly shot and killed four people in Austin Tuesday and injured two officers. Authorities in Bexar County said the suspect also killed his parents before coming to Austin.

“The failure to use the alert system raises questions,” said State Representative Vikki Goodwin (D-Travis County). “There were multiple points in time throughout the day when the alert might have been relevant and might have saved lives.”

Andrea Fisher, a mom of four, said she had hoped for information sooner from law enforcement. She first learned of a gunman in the Circle C neighborhood from her daughter’s cycling coach after police said the suspect shot a cyclist on a nearby trail.

“It would have heightened my awareness to be more proactive quicker,” she said, describing how she may have changed her behavior if she did receive an alert from police.

Author: Kelsey Sanchez, Published: 10:52 PM CST December 6, 2023, AUSTIN, Texas — The shooting rampage that resulted in the deaths of six people in Austin and San Antonio has left State Rep. Vikki Goodwin (District 47) questioning why the state's active shooter alert system wasn't activated in the Capital City, where four separate shootings unfolded.

"There were several opportunities when Austin police could have alerted the community so that people could have changed their behavior, they could have protected themselves, they could have looked for suspicious activity and reported that back to the police," Goodwin said.

By John Krinjak, Published December 6, 2023, FOX 7 Austin - Some Austin residents who live near the crime scenes involved in Tuesday’s shooting spree are questioning why they were not notified of the threat posed by the suspected shooter, as he remained on the loose for hours.

While Austin police have been widely applauded for the bravery and hard work of officers on the ground, risking their lives to track down Shane James, confront him and take him into custody, some have raised concerns about the communication coming from police.

At no point was the Blue Alert system, which notifies the public when an officer is shot, or the DPS Active Shooter Alert system activated. State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, an Austin Democrat, says that’s a problem.

"I think there were several opportunities for them to send out an alert, even if after the first incident at the school, they didn't think it was an active shooter. When the second incident happened in South Austin, it may have occurred to them, ‘well, let's go ahead and send down an alert so that this neighborhood can be aware the shooter was not caught’. And so in my mind, there's an opportunity to let people know to be on alert," said Goodwin. "There is an opportunity for DPS and APD and other local law enforcement organizations to have conversations about protocols."

AUSTIN (KXAN), Nov. 6, 2023, by Nabil Remadna— While Austin is a dog friendly city, man’s best friend isn’t allowed everywhere. But some people are taking advantage of the system and claiming pets as service dogs.

Now, a new law aims to crackdown on false representation of these service animals.

House Bill 4164 went into effect in September, and it increases the penalty for people misrepresenting their dogs as service animals. Fines for violating the law have increased from $300 to $1,000 and 30 hours of community service.

According to the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The tasks performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.

“I know it has become a problem for those people who really need those animals to help them get around,” said Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin who helped get the new law passed. “They do provide a very valuable service, but they can be interrupted by other pets that aren’t trained.”

KVUE Austin, Eric Pointer, June 22, 2023 - The law aims to give others resources Cox's parents believe could have helped their daughter.

The "Natalia Cox Act" is a law that could give Texans important resources at critical times of need. It was passed due, in no small part, to parents on a mission to honor their daughter's legacy. 

The law is named after Huston-Tillotson University student Natalia Cox, who was murdered in March 2021. Her parents say if this law was around then, things might have worked out differently for their daughter. That's why they worked so hard to get it passed – to protect others. 

Alvarado was approached by State Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin) to carry the bill in the Senate.

Goodwin wrote the House version of the bill and presented Lester and LaKeshia Cox with a resolution and the flag that was flown over the Texas State Capitol the day the bill was signed into law. 

I am strongly opposed to taking public tax dollars and spending them on private school tuition. In addition to pulling much needed funding away from the schools which serve over 90% of our students, there are other potential pitfalls.

Vouchers could put our teachers' retirement funds in jeopardy.

Gov. Greg Abbott has called a third special session, which began on October 9. Throughout the 88th legislative session and during the interim, Gov. Abbott has pushed a plan for public school vouchers, which the Texas House opposed. If passed, the funds being moved from public schools to private would be "handled" by private fund management organizations.

AUSTIN, Texas — Safety protection for Texas students, teachers, and staff will look different when school starts this month. From elementary school to high school an armed security officer is required to be on every campus during school hours. But finding and paying for those armed officers is turning out to be a very heavy lift for school districts.

“I’m sure it’s a struggle for them,” said Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin, District 47. “That’s a concern I raised on the House floor that we’re already short law enforcement and what if they can’t find people to fill the positions.”

School districts can ask the Texas Educations Agency (TEA) for a waiver if they claim a “good cause exception” and have an alternative plan. One option is to train a teacher or staff member to carry a gun on campus.

“I have heard from teachers, from parents and even from students who really do not want their teachers to be armed. That is not their job and there are so many opportunities for accidents to happen,” said Goodwin who represents western and far south Travis County.

EAGLE PASS, TX — Texas Public Radio | By David Martin Davies, Published August 7, 2023 at 6:59 AM CDT - It’s 6 a.m. and Jesse Fuentes is leading a fact-finding kayak group to see Gov. Greg Abbott’s floating border wall in Eagle Pass. The new centerpiece—his controversial Operation Lone Star program to deter illegal immigration.

I think there’s a better way—a more humanitarian way,” said State Rep. Vikki Goodwin. She’s part of the fact-finding kayaking group.

The Austin Democrat says instead of spending billions on Operation Lone Star, the state should invest in the infrastructure to help people enter Texas legally.

“They certainly wouldn’t choose to cross a river that’s bordered by razor wire,” she said.

On August 1, 2023, I went to Eagle Pass to see the bouys Governor Abbott had installed in the Rio Grande river for myself.

Just two days later, I was heartbroken to learn that two people died at the buoy barrier. This is a terrible thing to happen. Leaving the buoys in place will show that Governor Abbott will go to any ends, including loss of life, to keep desperate people from entering the US in Texas.

Operation Lone Star is failing us. But on Aug. 1, one border community celebrated a victory in pushing back against the demands of Governor Abbott.

KXAN-Austin, David Yeomans-May 18, 2023 - Central Texas residents trust that when they turn on their faucets, they will have water, even as our population booms and climate change alters weather patterns. KXAN found the Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages the water supply for more than one million residents, is only planning based on the worst drought in our history — not on more severe droughts that the State Climatologist expects in the future. But during our months-long investigation, the LCRA changed course.

Spectrum News, Charlotte Scott, May 9, 2023-AUSTIN, Texas —  After mass shootings in Texas, Republican lawmakers have focused on mental health reforms and downplayed guns.

Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, voted in favor of the legislation (HB 2744, “Raise the Age”) and got hugs from Uvalde family members. Even if the bill doesn’t make it beyond committee, she said she won’t stop fighting for stronger gun laws. Other legislation she supports include background checks for all firearm sales, a “cooling off” period of 72 hours after the purchase of a firearm and a temporary removal of firearms from those who are an imminent danger to themselves or others.

KVUE, Austin, May 11, 2023 - AUSTIN, Texas — In June 2019, 6-year-old Cati DelaPeña was found at the bottom of a swimming pool, without a lifejacket, during a summer camp field trip. Her parents had told camp leaders that she could not swim and needed to wear a lifejacket. 

Cati’s Act, by State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin, requires child care providers to identify children who cannot swim and make sure they are provided life jackets before going near bodies of water.

KVUE Author: Troy Kless, May 9, 2023 - SAN ANTONIO — Lawmakers said the Uvalde families needed some hope that a bill to raise the age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21 could pass. A glimmer of hope was given on Monday.

"I can't imagine how it feels to have so much power, and yet here we are on the last day still hoping you'll do the right thing," Laura Garza, aunt of Amerie Jo Garza spoke passionately during a press conference towards lawmakers on the Texas House Community Safety Committee.

Less than two hours after tearful testimony from the families, the House Community Safety Committee called a special meeting. Committee members voted 8-5 to move the bill out of committee. Two Republicans, Rep. Sam Harless and Rep. Justin Holland supported the measure.

Facebook video from Rep. Vikki Goodwin shows the vote and the reaction that took place.

KVUE Austin-May 12, 2023 Author: Ford Sanders - AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House of Representatives approved initial passage of the controversial Senate Bill 14 Friday night after it was taken up for the third time this session. The bill was granted initial passage…

…The bill would ban doctors from treating transgender youth with hormone therapies and puberty blockers and would also prohibit minors from getting transition-related surgeries. Under the bill, any minors already receiving this type of care would have to be weaned off in what is said to be a medically appropriate manner.

At the start of the day Friday, protestors against the bill and anti-LGBTQ+ laws in general gathered outside the House chamber. Speakers ranging from advocates to state representatives shared why they feel this bill would be detrimental to transgender youth.

2-21-23 Austin American Statesman by Addie Costello -

In honor of an Austin woman who, according to police, was murdered in 2021 by a man who had threatened her a week earlier, state Rep. Vikki Goodwin has filed a bill to strengthen domestic violence prevention and empower victims to seek help. 

Goodwin, D-Austin, on Feb. 13 introduced House Bill 2229, named the Natalia Cox Act, which would require police officers and medical professionals to provide a written list of resources and legal options available to individuals experiencing family or dating violence, such as how to file criminal charges, obtain an emergency protective order and break a lease to move somewhere safer.

UPDATE - Rep. Vikki Goodwin files the “Natalia Cox Act” in honor of the young woman who was killed in 2021. Victims of domestic violence must receive information that helps protect themselves from further violence. HB 2229 will require the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) develop a brochure with information about: 1) resources in the community, such as shelters and organizations that provide help to victims of domestic violence including phone numbers, 2) obtaining protective orders, and 3) moving and terminating a lease due to domestic violence. Knowing what resources are available could have saved Ms. Cox’s life, and we hope this information will save the lives of other women throughout Texas once passed.

From KVUE Defenders, Nov. 18, 2021 - Following her death, Masino said friends and classmates remembered how considerate, caring and kind Cox was – described as the “go-to friend” who was “incredibly generous.”

“I feel that a lot more could have been done should have been done to address her situation. She had warning. You know that this did not come completely out of nowhere,” Masino said.

Lester and LaKeshia are now trying to find a new way to navigate life without their bright light, while still remembering Cox’s impact.

“You think about power as strength. Yes, power is strength, but it's strength in love and strength in enduring and fighting for what you believe, and so that's for me – my baby represented strength,” LaKeshia Cox said.

Austin American Statesman, Dec. 13, 2022, by Ryan Autullo - A bill from Goodwin, filed the week after the November election, would legalize ranked-choice voting in Texas.

If approved, here's how it would work: Voters rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, the race is over; that candidate wins. But if no candidate gets a majority of votes, the candidate receiving the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and that candidate's ballots are examined for second-choice votes. These votes are then assigned to the remaining candidates. This is repeated until one candidate has a majority of votes and is elected.

SPECTRUM NEWS-AUSTIN, by Charlotte Scott, NOV. 23, 2022

House Bill 284, written by Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, would require reporting multiple semi-automatic rifle sales or transfers within five consecutive business days to the county sheriff.

“We simply want to make our community safer,” she said. “And there are some laws that we can pass — some very common sense laws — that would be helpful. And I think we all agree that we should be able to send our kids to school and not have to worry about a mass shooting in the school. We should be able to go to church and grocery stores and parks without having that constant threat. I just feel like we’ve gone so far in one direction of giving so many allowances to people with guns to be able to carry them anywhere. And it can be intimidating for those of us who don’t really want to feel like we have to be armed at all times to be safe.”

Representative Goodwin said local law enforcement usually knows their community well and can do some digging if something doesn’t feel right.

WFAA-UVALDE, Texas, Oct. 5, 2022 — Families of victims of Uvalde along with Texas Democrats urged action on gun laws in a press conference Wednesday morning. One by one, parents shared their heartbreak.

“The life I once had was ripped apart.”

“A weapon that’s used in combat should stay in combat, not here on the streets.”

The fight for stricter gun laws continues, four months since the Robb Elementary School shooting.

…the families of the 21 victims who lost their lives on May 24…. joined Texas Democrats demanding stricter background checks, red flag laws and raising the age limit to buy an assault weapon from 18 to 21.

“We must love and cherish our children more than we love and cherish our guns,” says State Rep. Vikki Goodwin.

Austin American Statesman, Guest Column, Vikki Goodwin, June 5, 2022 - The recent mass shooting in Uvalde – sadly, only the most recent of many – leaves so many of us in Texas struggling to find hope. Day after day we are confronted with horrific acts of violence. Compounding this hopelessness is the inactivity from our governor on the most obvious part of the problem: guns. In these murders, guns are the tools. Death and trauma are the results. The Texas Legislature and the governor need to pass the sensible and popular gun laws that will keep us safe.

While conversations about mental health are warranted, and school campus security should be reviewed, we cannot continue to ignore the fact that more guns on our streets makes us less safe. We have to address the obvious fact that guns are too easy to acquire. Weapons that belong on the battlefield are making it into the hands of angry people, mostly men, who believe their best option is to kill others, and often themselves.

KVUE ABC Austin, Tanvi Varma, June 3, 2022 - State Rep. Vikki Goodwin laid flowers for the 21 people who lost their lives in Uvalde. For her, it's a painful reminder of her own tragedy. "Every time one of these tragedies happen, it just reminds me of my own loss. My father was shot and killed in 1990," said Goodwin. That's why she's going to push for a special session on gun legislation reform. One thing she wants is to close loopholes on universal background checks.

"One example is someone with a revoked or suspended license to carry can go into a gun store and use that license to get a gun without getting a background check. Other examples would be online sales and gun shows. There are some loopholes there as well," she said.

Goodwin also wants to raise the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21. She also wants waiting periods between when people buy a gun and when they can actually get the gun.

CBS Austin, by Christian Flores, May 27, 2022 - "Every time something like this happens, we think maybe the Republicans will change their stance. Maybe they will agree to some sort of universal background checks. Maybe they will agree to some red flag laws," Goodwin said. "How do our red flags that are currently in place work? We do have protective orders in some jurisdictions. I don't know if there are any in Uvalde. But that's the thing. We have a patchwork set of laws throughout the state. Travis County has some protective orders in place, but the average person - even myself - does not have a full understanding of how they work. What does it mean if I see something on social media? Who do I report it to? What's going to happen if I report it? I think there's a lot more education that needs to be done and clarification, and it would be better if we had a statewide law as opposed to patchwork."

Goodwin Journal - March 7, 2022 - On a recent trip to South Texas, Rep. Vikki Goodwin visited with landowners on the Rio Grande river to hear their view of the border wall being built by both the federal and state governments. Click on the photo to read one of the stories written about this trip. As depicted in the photo, some property owners do not want a wall built on their land, and they consider it a waste of state resources.

The Austin Chronicle - This week’s People’s Summit, led by state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, and joined by many Travis County lawmakers, was intended to put a question to the Texas Legislature: How can the state walk away from a man-made catastrophe a year ago that led to hundreds of deaths?

The answer, it appears, is “very easily,” even in an election year. Last year’s regular and three special sessions of the 87th Texas Legislature were brutally devoid of much acknowledgment of the actual human toll of February’s Winter Storm Uri, as opposed to its consequences to state energy regulators at the Railroad Commission (oil and gas) and Public Utility Commission (electric power) and the grid managers at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. “We were caught unprepared,” Goodwin said in a pre-summit press conference. “That’s not acceptable. We have to learn from what has happened. And so that’s why we are here today.”

Courthousenews.com - A year after Winter Storm Uri brought freezing temperatures to Texas that triggered catastrophic power outages, a group of Democratic state lawmakers held a truth and reconciliation hearing Tuesday to discuss the death toll, what went wrong and whether legislative reforms to shore up the state’s grid went far enough.

“We call this event or this incident Winter Storm Uri and that always frustrates me because this was not a natural disaster, this was a man-made disaster. It was entirely predictable. And it hasn’t been fixed. And it will happen again,” said state Representative James Talerico.

The state’s official count of 246 deaths attributed to Uri came under fire with Representative Vikki Goodwin questioning why just 77 out of the state’s 254 counties reported deaths. She said it was surprising there were 28 deaths in Travis County, home to Austin, and none in neighboring Hays County.

CBS AUSTIN, Texas — Exactly one year after last year's deadly winter storm, state lawmakers are pointing the finger at themselves for not doing more to reform the power grid and improving its reliability.

On Tuesday, a group of Democratic state representatives gathered at the Texas Capitol to plead with their Republican colleagues to call for more changes to the power grid.

"We have to learn from what has happened," said state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, who organized the event. "The purpose of today is to to make sure we're holding our legislators accountable for passing initiatives and policy that will make us more resilient in the future."

CommunityImpact.com - Several state representatives held a hearing Feb. 15 to recount Winter Storm Uri on its one-year anniversary. The event featured testimony from health care professionals, government representatives, climate experts and Texas residents.

“We were caught unprepared, and that’s not acceptable,” said Representative Vikki Goodwin of House District 47. “We must be prepared because what we’re hearing from climatologists is we’re going to have more extreme and intense weather in the direction that we’re going.”