Preceded by Jack D. Smith Party Democratic Party Political party Democratic Succeeded by Jimmie Davis | Occupation Real estate developer Children Robert G. Jones Name Sam Jones | |
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Residence Franklin, St. Mary Parish
Louisiana, USA Alma mater Nicholls State University Role Former Governor of Louisiana Died February 8, 1978, Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States Education Louisiana State University Previous office Governor of Louisiana (1940–1944) | ||
Sam S. Jones (born April 1953) is a developer and real estate broker from Franklin, Louisiana, who is a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 50 in southern Louisiana, primarily St. Mary Parish, but with one precinct in Iberia Parish and two others in St. Martin Parish.
Little is available on Jones via the Internet, perhaps because his name is so common. He graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He is apparently not related to former Governor Sam H. Jones of Lake Charles.
In 2007, Jones was first elected to the House in a runoff with a fellow Democrat, Allen Anthony McElroy, Jr. (born March 1948), an attorney from Berwick, 4,110 votes (53.3 percent) to 3,604 (46.7 percent). Jones was unopposed for a second term in 2011.
Representative Jones is a member of the Louisiana Rural Caucus, the Acadiana delegation, and the Democratic Caucus. He sits on these committees: (1) Natural Resources and Environment, (2) Retirement, and (3) Transportation, Highways, and Public Works.
Jones ranks between 49 and 78 percent in legislative ratings from the conservative Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Except for one year, he has since 2008 been rated 100 percent by Louisiana Right to Life. In 2014, Jones voted for the requirement that abortion providers have hospital admitting privileges near their clinics. That same year, he voted to extend the time for implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. He also voted to forbid the practice of transporting dogs in open truck beds on interstate highways.
In 2013, Jones voted to increase judicial pay and for lifetime concealed carry gun permits. In 2012, he voted to prohibit the use of cell phones while driving and opposed the use of state tax incentives to recruit a National Basketball Association team to Louisiana. In 2012, he supported the requirement for drug testing of welfare recipients. He opposed reducing the number of hours that polling locations remain open.
On April 17, 2017, Representative Jones, who is term-limited for his House seat in the 2019 state elections, introduced legislation pushed by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards to establish a gross receipts tax on businesses within Louisiana. Known as a commercial activity tax or CAT, Jones' bill focuses on the total revenue, without expense deductions, that an organization obtains from all sources. If adopted, the tax would apply to most businesses, including corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies.