Shannon Roers Jones


Shannon Roers Jones is an American attorney and politician. She served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from the 46th district since 2017. She is the North Dakota House Republican Caucus Chairperson since 2019.

Early life and education

Shannon Roers Jones was born in Horace, North Dakota. Her father, Jim P. Roers, is CEO of Roers Construction, a company he formed in 1976. She studied business in college, earning a BA from the College of St. Benedict in 1999 and an MBA from University of St. Thomas - Opus College of Business in 2001. She then earned a J.D. from University of North Dakota School of Law in 2011.

Career

Roers Jones started her career working for multiple real estate firms. After obtaining her law degree, she began working as a real estate Attorney as well as the main attorney in her father's business.

Electoral history

Roers Jones first ran for office in 2016, when she ran for the house seat 46th as the republicans successor to retiring incumbent Kathy Hawken. She won with 28.64% of the vote.
In January 2020, she announced that she would seek re-election.

Political positions

Work on Sunday

In 2017, Shannon Roers Jones spearheaded the push to repeal the last remnants of North Dakota's Blue laws. Her 2017 bill failed. In 2019 she again sponsored a bill which would make it legal for stores to be open on Sundays before noon. In 2019 her bill passed both the House and the Senate and was signed onto law by the Governor, and came into effect on August 1st 2019.

Marijuana and criminal justice

Roers Jones opposes legalization of recreational marijuana. However, she sponsored a bill calling for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. Under this bill, people found with small amounts of marijuana would still pay a fine, but it would not show up in their criminal records. This bill would also have expunged the criminal records of various non-violent and non-sex offenders. The bill failed to pass the ND House.

Personal life

Roers Jones lives in south Fargo with her husband Ross and their daughters Olivia, Kendall and Kate. Her father Jim was elected to the North Dakota State Senate in 2016, the year she was also elected to the ND House of Representative. They both represent the 46th District. In 2018, her cousin Kristin Roers was also elected to the ND State Senate. She represents the 27th district.