(Austin) State Representative Dade Phelan and his colleagues in the Texas Legislature concluded the 85^th Legislative Session last Monday. Representative Phelan had an extremely successful session and was named “Sophomore MVP” by Capitol Inside.

Representative Phelan was successful in passing legislation that will have a direct impact on District 21. House Bill 2775, which was the companion legislation to SB 1963, will help Lamar University retain thousands of students by allowing the Texas Education Agency to conduct observation of participants in advanced education preparation programs remotely through Skype or other technology-enhanced solutions. In addition, Representative Phelan authored and passed House Bill 1260, which creates a new occupational license for non-Texas commercial shrimpers for the unloading of shrimp. This legislation will open the Texas seafood market to 7 million pounds of Gulf shrimp and over $100 million in economic activity for the state of Texas.

“I am honored to be recognized for the work I did to represent District 21 this session,” said Representative Dade Phelan. “Despite significant challenges over the last 140 days, I believe the Texas House delivered results on a number of critical priorities for the state.”

Representative Phelan served his second session as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which allowed him to be an instrumental part of crafting the state budget. Last week, the Texas Legislature gave final approval to the $217 billion budget for the next biennium. Despite revenue challenges facing the state and significant population and inflation growth, the budget maintains the fiscal commitment to border security funding, dedicates new funding to community mental health services across the state, and invests additional funding to address the crisis at Child Protective Services and improve foster care.

“Thank you to Capitol Inside for naming me as the Sophomore MVP, and thank you to my constituents who have allowed me to serve them over the last two sessions, it is truly an honor to serve in the Texas House,” said Representative Phelan.