Jose received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley; a Master's degree in Public Affairs and Urban Planning from Princeton University; and a Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law.

In 2005, Jose was elected to the Los Angeles City Council's 14th District and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2007, 2011, and 2015--when he won with a Los Angeles City historical 40 percentage point difference from his nearest opponent.

Jose was fearless in creating policies that moved the City of Los Angeles forward. He championed successful efforts to address homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, protect the environment, increase park space, advance innovative transportation policies, and revitalize Downtown Los Angeles. He fought to bring new resources to the communities he represents, including Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Northeast Los Angeles and Downtown Los Angeles.

Jose led the effort to establish the City's first-ever committee on Homelessness and as chair of the committee co-authored and adopted the City's first ever Comprehensive Strategic Plan to Combat Homelessness. In implementing the Plan, Jose led a number of successful solutions to help address homelessness, including being one of the architects of the voter-approved Measure HHH, which will provide $1.2 billion over 10 years to build 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing. To this day, it remains the larges investment by the City to address Homelessness.

Jose helped create a new development fee, which will generate approximately $100 million a year for the preservation and construction of affordable housing. With Jose's assistance, his Council District saw the greatest number of affordable housing units constructed during his tenure than any other Council District.

In a resounding victory to dramatically increase green space throughout the City, Jose sponsored legislation that will add approximately $30 million annually for new park space and maintenance funds through a recalibration of park fees that had not been examined since the 1970s. He has also brought hundreds of acres of open space, new parks, and park upgrades to park-poor areas of his district at an unmatched pace.

Jose was one of the City's leading "Complete Streets" proponents. He ushered in groundbreaking pedestrian and bike-friendly policies that were seen as the model for the entire City—including the first ever parklets, bike corrals, full green bike lanes, and road diets.

Jose led the effort to create the City's newest landmark by calling for an architectural international competition and assisting in acquiring the State and Federal funding necessary to replace the decaying 6th Street Bridge. It is considered the City's largest public works project in modern times and has become a destination point as much as providing much needed multi-modal transportation to connect Downtown with the Eastside.

As Chair of the Environment Committee for a number of years, Jose led efforts to ban plastic bags, dramatically increase the Department Water and Power's energy efficiency program, significantly increase solar power operations, and commit the City to getting off a coal energy use by 2025.

As a strong proponent for economic development and creating cultural destination points, Jose steadfastly helped revitalize Downtown Los Angeles by increasing and reimagining its public spaces and promoting its economic and residential growth at an unprecedented level not seen since the 1980's. Thousands of new housing units and commercial space has been developed under his leadership, along with the promotion and assistance for new entertainment venues. Through his 10-year Bringing Back Broadway initiative, he assisted in the historical preservation of the beautiful corridor, reinvigorated 6 of its 12 historic theaters, and created a framework to bring the beloved Streetcar back to the City's core.

Jose served as a member and President of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education (2001-2005). As Board President, he oversaw the planning and implementation of the largest school construction program in U.S. history, resulting in the construction of over 130 new schools. He created a policy to expand access to college course requirements throughout the District, so that every student could attain college if they wished. On the business side of the district, he helped reform the business operations of the District, and assisted small businesses by implementing a 25 percent small business goal for all contracts, while ensuring more transparency and accountability at the District by establishing the District's ethics office and lobbyist registration system.

Jose has been awarded numerous awards and distinctions, including profiles by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the 25 figures in the Los Angeles Area that "stand out for their potential to shape lives" and by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the "100 most influential Hispanics" in the United States. He has been honored for his environmental protection leadership by the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. He is also a two-time Streetsblog LA "Elected Official of the Year" winner for his work on multi-modal street improvements and for his efforts to combat homelessness.

Jose was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and was the first Latino immigrant elected to the Los Angeles City Council. In 2004, he became the first Latino to serve on the Princeton University Board of Trustees.