Jose was the son of the Great Cebuano Jurist, M.C. Briones (Manuel Cabahug Briones) and Celestina Lorenzo. Jose and Manuel have streets named in their honor (Jose L. Briones Street is in the North Reclamation Area while M.C. Briones is the one beside the Cebu City Hall building). Jose was a member of the Municipal Board of Cebu City from 1948 to 1950 with F.D. Tecson, Eulogio Borres, Carlos Cuizon, and Mayor Miguel Raffinan as his contemporaries.
Jose was elected Governor of Cebu in the election held on November 8, 1955 and assumed office on December 30, 1955. Jose succeeded Sergio “Serging” Chiong Veloso Osmeña Jr. as governor after the latter left the Capitol (Serging was elected in 1951 as governor defeating the incumbent, Dr. Manuel Cuenco) to run as Mayor of Cebu City in 1955 to become the first elected Cebu City Mayor. From 1937 to 1955, the Cebu City Mayor was appointed by the president, it was only the vice mayor and the members of the Cebu City Council who were elected according to the original Cebu City Charter.
Jose was reelected as Governor of Cebu in the election held on November 10, 1959 defeating the legendary Ramon “Manoy Amon” Durano of Danao City. Durano won in the province but heavily lost to Briones in Cebu City.
Jose ran for Congress on November 14, 1961 representing the Old 2nd District of Cebu then composed of Cebu City, Mandawe (not yet a city at that time), Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, and Opon (now Lapu-Lapu City). He was reelected in Congress and retired from public service on December 30, 1969.
Governor Jose married Luna Cabrera. Their daughter, Marilou Briones Chiongbian would later become the founder of the C-CIMPEL or the Cebu-Citizens Involvement and Maturation for Peoples Empowerment and Liberation.
Jose was admitted to the Bar on March 13, 1946 while his father Manuel became a lawyer on November 3, 1916. The Briones Clan holds the distinction as the only father-son lawyer tandem with streets named after them in Cebu. The Cabahug Clan to which M.C. Briones also belongs, also has the distinction of having the only brother-governor lawyer tandem with streets named after them (Sotero and Fructuoso).