Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst

Texas State Senator, Health & Human Services Committee Chair

The Senate of Texas

Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst is a sixth-generation Texan, with ancestral roots dating back to the Texas War of Independence. Married to her high school sweetheart Jim, she is a dedicated mother and small business owner. Born and raised in Senate District 18, she attended public schools before graduating from Texas Christian University, where she was an Academic All-American four-year letter winner on the Lady Frog golf team.

In 2014, after seven successful terms in the Texas House, she was elected to the Texas Senate in a special election, becoming only the 17th female to serve in the Texas Senate since 1845. Encompassing nearly one million constituents, Senate District 18 spans all or parts of 18 counties and includes a portion of the Texas coastline.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, Senator Kolkhorst sets public health policies and oversees physicians and licensed health professionals. Senator Kolkhorst led the State of Texas through the COVID-19 pandemic and created new initiatives that improve women's health and maternal mortality rates. She has worked with hospitals to see that they provide better care for high-risk pregnant women and newborns and created an innovative funding method for newborn screenings in Texas. In 2022, the Senator was also appointed to Chair the Special Committee on Child Protective Services to work closely with advocates to protect abused children and reform our foster care system.

Senator Kolkhorst is known for achieving significant public policy changes that impact the lives of every Texan, such as lowering the price cap for insulin, increasing homestead property tax exemptions, and enacting constitutional protections for patient visitation rights during a pandemic. Known by her colleagues for being a hard worker, Kolkhorst has also passed legislation that impacts every code of Texas law, ranging from increased government transparency to fighting human trafficking. A longtime voice for private property rights, Senator Kolkhorst has worked with landowner groups to stop eminent domain abuse. To protect and increase funding for our state parks and historic sites, she authored Proposition 5 in 2019, which passed statewide with overwhelming support. She has also led efforts to enhance Texas roads, ports and trade corridors delivering millions of dollars in funding for the state highways across her district.

Senator Kolkhorst and her husband are blessed with two children, Lois Kate and Jake. A frequent volunteer at her church, Senator Kolkhorst also enjoys hobbies such as hunting, fishing and gardening.