Jason Villalba

Villalba served on the House committees on (1) Business and Industry and (2) Economic Development.[14]

In 2013, Representative Villalba voted to increase numerous requirements for clinics performing abortions, which opponents argued were so strict that they could lead to the closure of every facility offering such services, and to forbid the practice after twenty weeks of gestation.[1][15] State Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth staged a nationally watched filibuster against these measures, which have since been signed into law by Governor Rick Perry.[15]

Villalba voted against term limits for the statewide constitutional officers, including the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general. The measure died, 61–80, in the House.[16] Villalba voted to forbid the use of state funds to enforce national gun-control laws. He voted to reduce the required hours for concealed handgun training courses. He supported the authorization of concealed handguns on college campuses. He voted to establish school marshals.[1]

In other legislative votes, Villalba supported a bill to forbid texting while driving; it has not been enacted. He co-sponsored the extension of the exemption of certain businesses from the franchise tax.[1]

In his second month as a legislator, Villalba drew the opposition of conservatives opposed to implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act when he conceded, with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June 2012 to uphold the federal health law as constitutional, that Texas should consider all available options in determining whether to implement state health-insurance exchanges to create a marketplace for those individuals without health coverage. Michael Quinn Sullivan, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, said that the state should do nothing to help implement the federal law. In The Dallas Morning News, Gromer Jeffers wrote, "Villalba said he was disappointed with the tone and vitriol of some of his conservative critics. He stressed that he's against the affordable health care law, but realizes that it's [opposition to the law] not going anywhere."[17]

In December 2014, Villalba introduced HJR55,[18] a resolution calling for an amendment to the Texas Constitution to protect freedom of religion. The measure would simultaneously strike down non-discrimination laws at the city and county level throughout Texas. The resolution was opposed by Democrats, Republicans, and business leaders and was eventually withdrawn.[19] Eric Nicholson of the Dallas Observer stated that Villalba proposed the amendment in "direct response to Plano's new LGBT protections."[20]

On March 10, 2015, Villalba introduced a bill that criminalizes photographing, recording, or documenting police officers from closer than 25 feet, or 100 feet if photographer has a concealed handgun license. Exceptions are made only for registered representatives of major new media organizations.[21] House Bill 2918 may conflict with the 2011 U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruling, Glik v. Cunniffe, which states that citizens have right to record police in action.[22] The bill has been described as follows: "Villalba's bill would also make it illegal for private citizens to record their own interactions with police officers. In fact, the language is so broad, in prohibiting "documenting" the police officer's activities, that taking notes during a conversation with an officer, about what was being said, the officer's badge number, etc., could be construed as a violation."[23] After heavy criticism about the bill on social media, he became the subject of a Dallas Observer blog about his blocking on Twitter of critics or even reporters asking questions.[24]

Villalba was a legislative ally of Joe Straus, the Moderate Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from San Antonio, who leaves the post in 2019. In 2014, Villalba predicted, correctly as it developed, that the Texas Senate under Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in 2015 would be "the most conservative in state history." He warned that a number of bills coming from the Senate would be killed by the more liberal House. Villalba said that the Straus forces would "obstruct Senate-passed reforms [through] the House Calendars Committee, where conservative bills will be strangled in the cradle."[25]

Villalba won renomination in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016, over challenger Dan Morenoff, 11,436 votes (55.2 percent) to 9,300 (44.8 percent).[26] He then defeated the Democrat Jim Burke, 37,588 votes (55.7 percent) to 27,367 (40.6 percent), in the November 8 general election.[27]

Villalba unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Dallas in 2019, receiving only 6% of the vote in the first voting round.