Vincent "Vince" Perez Incumbent for State Representative District 77

Vince earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Vince Perez is the former County Commissioner for Precinct 3 in El Paso County. He became the youngest member of the El Paso County Commissioners Court in 2013 after defeating former State Representative Chente Quintanilla.​ Under his leadership, El Paso County also became one of the first counties in the nation to implement the “courtools model” by the National Center for State Courts to provide judges and the general public information about the efficiency and cost of court. As Commissioner, Vince earned a reputation as a reform-minded leader who helped modernize many functions of El Paso County government. He effectively led several policy reforms and initiatives in the areas of criminal justice, budget management, economic development, and transportation. In 2013, Commissioner Perez voted to approve the County’s first Comprehensive Mobility Plan, which provided over $400 million in new transportation infrastructure for El Paso County. All county projects were delivered on time and on budget. In the same year, he voted to expand access to healthcare by approving over $150 million for the construction of state-of-the-art primary care clinics throughout El Paso County under the County Hospital District. In 2014, as a result of his office’s research and analysis, he called for a state investigation into the judiciary’s longstanding appointment practices of private criminal defense attorneys for low-income individuals. Commissioner Perez found that a small number of private attorneys were being over-appointed to hundreds of criminal defense cases, resulting in inadequate defense for defendants, excessive incarceration in the county jail of low-level defendants not yet found guilty, and extensive backlogs in criminal court dockets. The Texas Indigent Defense Commission, the state agency that oversees indigent defense throughout all 254 Texas Counties concurred with Commissioner Perez’s findings and compelled the judiciary to devise and implement a plan to change its practices. That same year, he successfully proposed the creation of the County’s first pretrial office to promptly assess a defendant’s safety risk to the community, their mental health background, and their need for public defense. He also successfully expanded the operations of the county jail magistrate to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure defendants could promptly appear before a judge and processed without delay. Vince Perez also served as the Chairman of the El Paso MPO Transportation Policy Board, Vice Chairman of the Central Appraisal District Board of Directors, and also served on the Texas Border Trade Advisory Committee.

Source: http://www.vinceperez.com/#about

Jurisdiction:  El Paso (24%)