77 Facts About Rodney Ellis

Rodney Glenn Ellis was born on April 7,1954 and is an American politician who has served on the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1 since 2017.

In previous sessions, Rodney Ellis chaired the Senate Finance, Jurisprudence, Government Organization, Intergovernmental Relations, and Open Government Committees.

On June 25,2016, Rodney Ellis won the Democratic Party's nomination for Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1.

Rodney Ellis was elected county commissioner on November 8,2016 and sworn into office on January 1,2017.

Rodney Ellis's father worked as a yard man and his mother a maid.

Rodney Ellis enrolled at Xavier University in Louisiana but returned to Texas to attend Texas Southern University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

Rodney Ellis served as legal counsel to Texas Railroad Commissioner Buddy Temple before moving to Washington, DC to become chief of staff for US Representative Mickey Leland.

In 1983, at age 29, Ellis was elected to the Houston City Council, where he served three terms representing District D While on Council, Ellis worked on efforts to tear down abandoned buildings that had attracted criminals and the drug trade.

Rodney Ellis worked to secure more funds to raze these dangerous buildings, and drove a front-loader to help clean up drug-ridden Houston neighborhoods.

Rodney Ellis worked to increase funding to expand low-income housing projects across Houston, preserve Allen Parkway Village, and strengthen policies for the city's use of federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure a greater percentage is devoted to low and moderate-income Texans.

Rodney Ellis worked to seize abandoned properties and sell on the market to raise funds for housing and other vital needs.

Rodney Ellis served as chair of the Economic Redevelopment Committee, where he advocated policies to spur economic development in Houston.

Rodney Ellis called for the creation of a new think tank and the city Department of Commerce to coordinate and streamline city economic development policies, worked to save city and taxpayer investments in projects such as the Palm Center and Mercado del Sol shopping center, and pushed to expand low-interest loans to small businesses.

Rodney Ellis pushed to rename Houston Intercontinental Airport after Mickey Leland, following his death on an anti-hunger mission to Ethiopia.

In 1997, Rodney Ellis authored legislation to create the Texas Capital Access Fund that provided up to $140 million in private lending to small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

In 1999, Rodney Ellis introduced and passed a $506 million tax relief package that created a three-day sales tax holiday, eliminated the sales tax on over-the-counter medicines, and cut business taxes.

The Texas Green Jobs Act of 2009, authored by Rodney Ellis, was amended onto House Bill 1935, establishing the first statewide green jobs program in Texas.

In 1993, Rodney Ellis introduced the Motor Voter program to allow citizens to register to vote when they renew their driver's licenses.

In 2001, Rodney Ellis authored and passed the James Byrd, Jr.

In 2007, Rodney Ellis introduced and passed the Stop the Genocide Act, requiring state pension funds to divest from companies doing business in Sudan.

Rodney Ellis helped pass the Free Flow of Information Act in 2009 to protect journalists from being forced to testify or disclose confidential sources.

In 2009, Rodney Ellis introduced and passed legislation creating the Holocaust and Genocide Commission, a volunteer commission that serves as a conduit of information to public schools, private schools, and organizations regarding the Holocaust and acts of genocide.

In 1993, Rodney Ellis authored and passed legislation requiring private nonprofit hospitals to provide a certain amount of charity care to uninsured patients.

In 2011, Rodney Ellis amended the Texas Department of Insurance sunset legislation to include a provision that will increase access to individual health insurance plans in order to expand the availability of coverage to children under 19.

In 2011, Rodney Ellis sponsored legislation that ensures a voice for advocates and individuals infected with HIV in the state's HIV Medication Advisory Committee.

In 2001, Rodney Ellis authored and passed the Texas Fair Defense Act to overhaul the state's indigent defense system by focusing on four critical issues: timely appointment of counsel, method of counsel appointment by the courts, reporting of information about indigent representation services, and minimum standards for counsel.

In 2009, Rodney Ellis sponsored and passed legislation to establish the Tim Cole Advisory Panel to identify and study the factors that contribute to wrongful convictions.

In 2009, Rodney Ellis authored and passed legislation to create the Office of Capital Writs, the state's first statewide public defender office, to manage death penalty appeals.

In 2011, Rodney Ellis sponsored and passed comprehensive exoneree compensation reform legislation, which provided health care to the wrongfully convicted, established standards for attorney's fees in compensation claims, and helped exonerees to receive compensation.

In 2013, Rodney Ellis authored and passed the "Michael Morton Act," legislation creating a uniform, statutory open file criminal discovery policy in Texas.

In 2015, Rodney Ellis sponsored and passed legislation creating the Tim Cole Exoneration Review Commission.

Rodney Ellis became the state's first and only posthumous exoneration in 2009, and Governor Rick Perry later pardoned Cole in 2010.

In 1999, Rodney Ellis sponsored legislation that created the TEXAS Grant Program.

In 2011, Rodney Ellis cosponsored legislation to help the University of Houston and other Texas universities become Tier One institutions of higher education.

In 1995, Rodney Ellis introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the office of state treasurer.

In 2003, Rodney Ellis sponsored comprehensive ethics reform for state and local elected officials.

In 1999, Rodney Ellis was named President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate.

Normally only a ceremonial position, Ellis served while Governor George W Bush was running for President of the United States.

When Bush traveled out of Texas, Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry was elevated to governor, and Rodney Ellis acted as Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

In 1999 and 2000, Rodney Ellis served as Acting Governor of Texas for 45 days and was the Lieutenant Governor of Texas for 7 days, 7 hours and 31 minutes.

In 1990, Rodney Ellis founded the Texas Legislative Internship Program.

On June 25,2016, Rodney Ellis secured the Democratic nomination for the seat and was unopposed on the ballot in November.

Rodney Ellis voted for a total of $40 million in funding for emergency rental assistance payments for low-income residents to help prevent an eviction crisis in the county.

In February 2019, Commissioner Rodney Ellis voted in favor of a budget increase to the Harris County Public Defender's Office to $9 million, in order to hire 61 new employees, the majority of them lawyers to represent people charged with misdemeanor, felony, and juvenile courts who cannot afford legal representation.

In July 2019, Commissioner Rodney Ellis led Commissioner's Court in approving a historic settlement agreement to change the local misdemeanor bail system found unconstitutional by a local judge for keeping poor people who could not afford bail incarcerated prior to having their case heard.

In June 2020, in response to the death of native Houstonian George Floyd and subsequent nationwide protests against police brutality against Black Americans, Commissioner Rodney Ellis led the effort to pass a package of 11 criminal justice reform measures.

In July 2020, Rodney Ellis motioned to create an independent election administrator's office, moving away from splitting election duties between two county departments, the County Clerk and County Tax Assessor-Collector.

In July 2018, Rodney Ellis led the effort in securing a $600,000 investment, using money from his Precinct, to fund a county-wide disparity study on the county's use of minority- and women-owned business enterprises for contracting purposes.

In January 2019, Rodney Ellis proposed the creation of the Department of Economic Opportunity and Equity, which would address income inequality and other economic disparities in Harris County.

In 2018, Rodney Ellis secured a unanimous decision by Commissioner's Court to approve an election for a $2.5 billion flood bond program that would prioritize socially vulnerable communities for flood control projects.

In December 2019, Rodney Ellis voted to approve County Attorney Vince Ryan's request to consider legal action against Union Pacific, a multi-billion-dollar transportation company for mismanagement of contamination from a rail yard in northeast Houston that has in recent years moved beneath an estimated 110 properties in the Kashmere Gardens and Fifth Ward, both historically Black neighborhoods.

Rodney Ellis is a senior advisor in the Public Policy and Regulation practice group for Dentons, the world's largest law firm.

Rodney Ellis previously served as an advisor to the Mexican government during the ratification of the NAFTA Treaty.

Rodney Ellis advised the buy side on the $1.3 billion privatization of Telkom South Africa, at the time the largest privatization in Africa.

Rodney Ellis serves on the LBJ Foundation board of trustees, the University of Texas School of Law Foundation board of trustees, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Rodney Ellis is the former chair of the Innocence Project board of directors.

Rodney Ellis formerly served as co-chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures Task Force on International Relations and on NCSL's Executive Committee.

Rodney Ellis helped to negotiate bringing Lucy, a natural history exhibit, to Houston.

Rodney Ellis led a delegation to the National Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to bring Lucy's bones to the United States and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Rodney Ellis is an avid cyclist who has authored "Complete Streets" legislation to improve safety for motorists and cyclists, and has sponsored or taken part in numerous cycling events, like the MS 150, in Texas and across the country.

Rodney Ellis has sponsored the annual National Conference of State Legislatures Bipartisan Bike Ride each year since 2005.

Rodney Ellis is an art collector and has a collection of African art.

Since becoming a Commissioner, Rodney Ellis has arranged to have murals painted on public spaces, including one in April 2022 to honor Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman appointed to the nation's highest court.

Rodney Ellis has led efforts to install statues in two public parks.

Rodney Ellis was listed as a bundler for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.

Rodney Ellis apologized to his colleagues for the breach of protocol.

Rodney Ellis drew fire from Texas media for ensuring the Senate vote to replace Perry was done with a secret ballot and without a record vote.

In 2013, Rodney Ellis assisted Senator Wendy Davis with a back brace during Davis' 11-hour filibuster of Senate Bill 5, a bill to add and update abortion regulations in Texas.

Rodney Ellis' assistance resulted in a point of order being called against Davis, effectively the second warning that her filibuster could be forced to end.

In 2013, Rodney Ellis wrote to Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier and requested the district begin the process of changing the Lamar High School mascot, which at the time was the Redskins.

Rodney Ellis sought and was given permission by the Harris County Commissioner's Court to display fourteen pieces of African art beginning in 2018.

Rodney Ellis was instrumental in creating a memorial in downtown Houston for four lynching victims and supported the creation of a board to advise the county on how to preserve black heritage.

Rodney Ellis has tapped his campaign account to purchase African art to display, an unusual though permissible use of political donations under Texas law.

Rodney Ellis has control over the budget of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, one of the agencies investigating him.

The ownership of the art is unclear, although the agreement regarding the storage of the art is an issue which "keeps [him] up at night" according to an e-mail Rodney Ellis sent to his staff.

Rodney Ellis has paid $213,000 of his campaign funds for legal services to provide advice regarding this issue, including to notable criminal defense lawyer Rusty Hardin.

On February 28,2020, a local news station published surveillance video it had obtained from the storage facility depicting Rodney Ellis providing a tour of the African art to parties unknown.