diff --git a/app/helpers/text_helper.rb b/app/helpers/text_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dda3ba721
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/helpers/text_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module TextHelper
+  def first_paragraph(text)
+    if text.blank?
+      ""
+    else
+      text.strip.split("\n").first
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/views/legislation/processes/_process.html.erb b/app/views/legislation/processes/_process.html.erb
index 9eac89a7b..a5780f792 100644
--- a/app/views/legislation/processes/_process.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/legislation/processes/_process.html.erb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     <div class="small-12 medium-8 column">
       <div class="legislation-text">
         <h3><%= link_to process.title, process %></h3>
-        <p><%= process.description %></p>
+        <%= simple_format(first_paragraph(process.description)) %>
       </div>
     </div>
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/text_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/text_helper_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc9300b7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/helpers/text_helper_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+describe TextHelper do
+
+  describe "#first_paragraph" do
+    it "should return the first paragraph of a text" do
+      text = "\n\nThis is the first paragraph\n\nThis is the second paragraph\n"
+      expect(first_paragraph(text)).to eq("This is the first paragraph")
+    end
+
+    it "should return blank if the text is blank" do
+      expect(first_paragraph("")).to eq("")
+      expect(first_paragraph(nil)).to eq("")
+    end
+  end
+
+end