Getting heard
State Rep. Venton Jones Freshman Rep. Venton Jones is making HIV nonpartisan and getting his bills through committee DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writertaffet@dallasvoice.com Legislators in their freshman year at the Capitol rarely get their bills heard by committee.
And if that legislator is a member of the party out of power, the chances of getting their legislation heard decrease. But Venton Jones, freshman Democrat from Dallas, is getting multiple bills heard in this legislative session.
Jones was elected as the first black legislator in the U.S. who is out about his HIV-positive status. His HIV status is part of his identity, and issues surround HIV/AIDS would be important to him as a lawmaker, he promised voters.
His openness worked. He won his Democratic Primary runoff by a landslide against a better-known opponent and coasted through the general election against a Libertarian candidate.
