In her second term representing House District 147, State Rep. Jolanda Jones (D-Houston) says her lived experiences are at the forefront of her lawmaking.
Having grown up directly impacted by harmful laws, she has set her mind to fixing a “broken system,” filing a suite of bills in the ongoing 89th Legislative Session that tackle issues in public education, law enforcement and the justice system.
Before becoming a state representative, Jones helped shut down the Houston Police Department’s DNA crime lab, which she said was “faking lab results to get people they thought committed crimes.” Additionally, as a City Councilmember, Jones pushed the city to increase its business contracts with Black and brown-owned businesses.
Now, as a state legislator in a Republican-dominated House, she foresees difficulty in passing her bills. She needs a majority in the House for her bills to reach the Senate and a majority of GOP votes to pass a bill.
For a very large period of my life, I was a victim through no fault of my own, based on laws that the state of Texas files. My family, my friends, my community deal with the same things.
State Rep. Jolanda Jones
“In this super politicized climate after Donald Trump, that’s hard,” Jones said, the Texas Legislature’s first openly LGBTQ+ Black representative. “The environment right now is unlike anything I’ve seen in my time as an adult.”
But these challenges have not stopped her from advancing justice-focused legislation.
Justice system
Jones’ House Bill 463, if passed, would expunge arrest and conviction records in drug cases where lab results later show no drugs were present, even in pretrial and post-conviction cases, or the person has been charged. Having seen firsthand how a criminal record derails lives, Jones believes this bill will help lower the mass incarceration of Black and brown Texans, who are disproportionately targeted by drug enforcement.
“Some people will plead guilty to a case that they’re not actually guilty of to get outta jail quicker,” said Jones, adding it would make it easier for them to get housing, a job and qualify for government services. “I don’t even wanna call it a second chance because to need a second chance, you had to have messed up the first time.”
Another top priority for Jones is to ensure individuals are not held in jail pretrial longer than the maximum sentence they would receive if convicted (HB 413).
Juvenile justice reform is also on Jones’s docket. Jones, who is the vice chair of Juvenile Justice, a subcommittee of Criminal Jurisprudence, filed HB 5525 that would revise parole guidelines for individuals convicted under 18, favoring rehabilitation over punishment.
“If we mess up with kids, they’re gonna be screwed up adults and it’s just easier to invest in healthy, productive children,” she stated.
Jones also filed HB 867 to allow prosecutors more discretion to dismiss criminal cases, HB 1765 to regulate the issuance of no-knock warrants to increase public safety and HB 4492 to criminalize failure to pay child support in specific circumstances.
Law enforcement
In what she calls the “police liability bill,” Jones’ HB 765 would require peace officers to carry liability insurance, which is similar to auto insurance. Her goal is to protect communities of color and hold officers accountable for misconduct.
“If I need liability insurance to drive my car, then police officers should need liability insurance to be a police officer,” said Jones, placing the cost of the insurance from $15 to $30 a month. “If they have enough complaints for excessive force or profiling, I think that indicates whether they’re a good cop or bad cop…that’s indicative of how likely you are to shoot and kill somebody or seriously injure someone.”
Jones has also filed HB 1455 to expand reporting on mental health jail diversion programs and HB 786 for justice court security in certain counties.
Public education
Jones has also turned her attention to student-athletes at risk of losing their scholarships due to injury, particularly Black athletes in predominantly white institutions (PWIs). As a former NCAA champion heptathlete for the University of Houston, Jones filed HB 936 knowing the stakes.
“In many ways, the only way Black people are gonna get into PWIs is if they’re good athletes,” she said.
In K-12 education, Jones remains a vocal opponent of school vouchers, calling HB 3 a “scam” to redirect taxpayer dollars to fund private school education.
Jones explained that the State Senate’s $10,000 education savings account program is not enough to cover private school tuition and leaves students with special needs behind.
“The beautiful thing about public schools is whatever child you drop off at the door of a public school, the public school has to accommodate and educate them,” she said. “This really isn’t a thing about school choice because the choice goes to the private school about whether they want to accept your child.”
Domestic violence
A survivor herself, Jones co-authored HB 4493 to train law enforcement officers on conducting “lethality assessments” during domestic violence calls. These assessments calculate the probability of someone being killed in a relationship.
“I don’t think most people would believe that the person they love would kill him, but it happens all the time,” Jones stated. “I wish I would’ve known about the lethality assessment when I was in my abusive relationship.”
Health care
Advancing Black-led healthcare education and institutional equity, Jones co-authored bills HB 3572 and HB 3730 to establish a College of Dentistry and a College of Medicine at Texas Southern University, a public historically Black university in Houston’s House District 147, which she represents.
“Black people are at the top of negative outcomes in the healthcare industry,” said Jones, who is on the House Committee on Public Health. “It is important to see doctors who look like me, who understand what I’m going through, who understand the uniqueness of my race and my culture. And they’re more likely to not jump to negative conclusions about me, ie. Black women can take more pain than white women.
