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Officials in Dallas, Texas have certified that advocates collected enough signatures to qualify a marijuana decriminalization for the local ballot in November.
The city secretary affirmed on Friday that the advocacy organization Ground Game Texas submitted nearly 50,000 valid petitions for the cannabis reform measure. This comes about a month after activists turned in the signatures.
If voters ultimately approve the initiative, possession of up to four ounces of marijuana would be decriminalized in Dallas, which is the third largest city in Texas by population.
“The overwhelming support of the ballot petition by Dallas voters is evidence that listening to the community and organizing around issues that matter to them is key to building voter enthusiasm and turnout,” Catina Voellinger, executive director of Ground Game Texas, said in a press release.
“This would not have been possible without the dedication and expertise of our field staff, who were able not only to collect tens of thousands of signatures but also ensure that those signatures were accurate and verifiable,” she said. “We look forward to winning in November and continuing to build our movement.”
Some members of the City Council had expressed interest in streamlining the process by acting legislatively, but plans to introduce the proposal at a hearing last month did not materialize, leaving the matter to voters.
The council will still need to formally place the initiative on the ballot now that the signatures have been verified. That’s expected to happen on August 14.
“Legally, Council has no discretion on these matters—we must vote to add the amendments to the Charter package that voters in November will vote on,” Councilmember Chad West (D) said in an email newsletter, KERA News reported. “It will be up to the voters to determine whether or not to support the initiatives.”
The measure would prevent police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it’s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.
Further, it says “Dallas police shall not consider the odor of marijuana or hemp to constitute probable cause for any search or seizure.”
The city manager and chief of police would be required to prepare quarterly reports on the implementation of the policy change, with information about any marijuana possession arrests or citations that would be submitted to the Dallas City Council.
Meanwhile, earlier this month activists in Bastrop, Texas turned in what they believe to be enough signatures to put another marijuana decriminalization initiative on the local November ballot.
Voters in multiple Texas cities have enacted the local decriminalization policies, but the movement has had ups and downs.
For example, in a win for advocates, a Texas district court judge last month dismissed a lawsuit from the Republican state attorney general who sought to overturn a local voter-approved marijuana decriminalization initiative in Austin.
That means the cannabis reform measure approved by voters in 2022 remains effective, pending any potential appeal from Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to a higher court.
Paxton’s office filed lawsuits against the cities of Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton over the decriminalization policies that voters passed at the ballot over recent years.
Meanwhile, activists in Lockhart recently turned in what they say are more than enough signatures to qualify a cannabis decriminalization initiative for the local ballot this November.
In a setback from advocates, however, voters in Lubbock rejected a separate cannabis reform initiative last month.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has separately lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said in May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”
He said it would lead to “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.
Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.
Paxton, the state attorney general, used more inflammatory rhetoric when his office announced in January that it was suing five cities over local laws decriminalizing marijuana that voters approved, vowing to overrule the “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.
In general, the measures that have already been enacted in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos prevent police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it’s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.
Shortly after voters in Harker Heights approved their measure, the city council overturned the ordinance over concerns that it conflicted with state law. But activists collected signatures for another initiative and successfully repealed the repeal last year—though officials have still refused to move forward with implementing the will of voters.
In November, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. It found that the measures will keep hundreds of people out of jail, even as they have led to blowback from law enforcement in some cities. The initiatives have also driven voter turnout by being on the ballot, the report said.
Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio last May was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.
At the state-level last year, the Texas House of Representatives passed a series of bills to decriminalize marijuana, facilitate expungements and allow chronic pain patients to access medical cannabis as an opioid alternative. But they ultimately stalled out in the Senate, which has been a theme for cannabis reform measures in the conservative legislature over several sessions.
The House passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019.
Separately, a Texas Democratic senator brought the issue of marijuana legalization to the Senate floor last May, seeking to attach to an unrelated resolution an amendment that would’ve allowed Texans to vote on ending prohibition at the ballot box. But the symbolic proposal was ultimately shut down. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) agreed to another member’s point of order, deeming the cannabis amendment not germane to the broader legislation.
Three in five Texans, including a plurality of Republicans, support legalizing marijuana, according to a survey released this month.
Another poll released in 2022 found that nearly three in four Texas voters (72 percent) support decriminalizing marijuana. More than half (55 percent), meanwhile, said they’re in favor of broader legalization. Seventeen percent said it shouldn’t be legal at all.
Last March, the same institution similarly showed that a majority of Texas voters feel that the state’s marijuana laws should be “less strict.”
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