Despite being incarcerated for illegally soliciting clients for his law firm, Democrat State Rep. Ron Reynolds (Missouri City) has filed 21 bills on the first day of legislative prefiling.

Reynolds’ bills represent 7 percent of the overall bills filed on the first day of filing before the 2019 legislative session. Of course, his staff deserves the credit of filing the bills, but they came from the incarcerated legislator’s office nonetheless.

Not only did he file one of the highest numbers of bills out of his 149 colleagues, but he also won re-election while behind bars just last week, though he ran unopposed.

Reynolds turned himself in on September 7 to begin serving a yearlong sentence in the Montgomery County Jail. He was found guilty of barratry stemming from a scheme in which his friend, a chiropractor, would convince patients to sign a contract hiring Reynolds as their legal counsel without his presence or even a physical examination.

It’s likely that, with good behavior, he will be released just ahead of the start of the 86th legislative session in time to serve his constituents.

 

Charles Blain

Charles Blain is the president of Urban Reform and Urban Reform Institute. A native of New Jersey, he is based in Houston and writes on municipal finance and other urban issues.

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