For decades, Texas has struggled to efficiently process the biological evidence from rape cases. To address the thousands of untested kits, state representative Victoria Neave, D-Dallas, proposed a crowdfunding measure that would give Texans the opportunity to donate $1 when renewing or applying for driver’s licenses.

That the crowdfunding measure is even necessary is embarrassing to the state. Almost 4,000 rape cases remain open because of untested evidence. Austin alone has a backlog of approximately 484 untested kits. Each piece of untested evidence potentially deprives a rape victim of closure.

To be fair, those numbers used to be a lot worse. In 2011, before the Department of Public Safety received $11 million from the state, insufficient funding created a backlog of over 19,000 kits. Though impactful, the money from the state simply could not completely overcome the backlog.

Testing each kit is expensive, costing between $750 and $1500. The labs need more funding, and Neave’s bill would raise an estimated $1 million per year. Of that amount, $800,000 would go directly to “accredited crime laboratories,” which Neave says are highly competent but also woefully underfunded.

Fortunately, Neave does not anticipate many roadblocks between now and the final vote on the bill in May. The proposal passed unanimously through the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and “(has) received positive feedback and responses from people on both sides of the aisle.”

Texas is so close to solving the backlog. The legislature will possibly allocate another $4 million dollars to the issue, which could bring the number of untested kits close to zero. As Neave expressed, “the state will ideally fund the backlog of untested rape kits” after a few years of the crowdfunding program. However, if tax dollars alone cannot keep the backlog under control, donations from Texas citizens could provide an additional source of revenue.

Regardless of where it gets the funding, Texas’s legislature must develop mechanisms to ensure a steady stream of funding to crime laboratories. We cannot get allow the backlog of rape kits to get out of hand once again.

It is easy to lose sight of what the statistics represent. A 4,000 kit backlog unnecessarily draws out 4,000 people’s traumatic experiences. If rape victims have the courage to go to the police and endure an invasive, 4-6 hour investigation, they should not have to wait months, or in some cases years, for results of the biological analysis.

Even if the crowdfunding does not completely handle the backlog, it will provide closure to hundreds rape victims whose cases remain open. For the sake of these victims, the bill must pass in May.

Marabella is a business honors, Plan II and Spanish freshman from Austin. She is a columnist.