By Everton Bailey Jr.
https://www.dallasnews.com
A group behind a push to legalize carrying small amounts of marijuana in Austin and other Texas cities says it’s submitted a petition to have Dallas voters decide on the topic in November.
If the measure is approved to be put on an election ballot and is passed by voters, Dallas would become the largest city in the state to ban arrests for low-level cannabis possession, despite recreational use of marijuana still being illegal in Texas.
Ground Game Texas, a social justice advocacy nonprofit, says its members submitted almost 50,000 signatures to Dallas City Hall on Monday seeking to change the city’s charter to stop police from citing or arresting people accused of having up to 4 ounces of marijuana. The group needs at least 20,000 valid signatures from registered voters in order for the proposal to be considered.
“We believe we’ll have enough signatures, and we believe it will pass,” said Amy Kamp, a Ground Game Texas spokesperson. “And we believe, when it passes, that we’ll see a change in policies that really respects people, prevents them from being unfairly targeted for simple possession of marijuana and allows for public resources to be put to better use.”
The group has aided in similar pushes that led to voters in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos approving ordinances in 2022 decriminalizing pot possession. Kamp said Dallas would be the first city where this would be a charter amendment rather than a local law change.
San Antonio voters last year rejected decriminalizing local low-level marijuana offenses, and voters in Lubbock did the same in May.
Attorney General Ken Paxton in January sued Austin, Denton and three other cities saying their ordinances decriminalizing marijuana violated state law. A Travis County judge earlier this month ordered the lawsuit be dismissed.
Dallas is in the midst of considering updates to the city’s charter, which typically happens once every 10 years and requires voter approval. The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday to approve a series of proposals for voters to consider on the Nov. 5 election ballot.
Some of the possible changes on the table are increasing pay for the mayor and council members, moving City Council elections to a ranked-choice voting system and extending the terms of district council members.
The Ground Game Texas petition comes as council members Chad West, Adam Bazaldua, Zarin Gracey and Jaime Resendez announced earlier this month they would propose a charter amendment mirroring the nonprofit’s petition.
West told The Dallas Morning News earlier this month he believed the amendment would have enough Dallas voter approval to pass if it went before voters and that he anticipated the city being sued by Paxton to overturn it.
“I have no doubt that (Ground Game Texas) collected at least 20,000 signatures that are valid,” West said. “They’re going to get this on the ballot regardless; we might as well greatly reduce the amount of staff time we have to spend on this and the city secretary’s office ratifying the petitions.”
Currently, having less than 2 ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. Carrying between 2 and 4 ounces of pot is a Class A misdemeanor that could lead to up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Black people for years have been overrepresented in Dallas arrests for low amounts of marijuana, city records show.
Dallas’ Office of Community Police Oversight issued a report in 2021 that found 85% of the police department’s more than 2,600 marijuana-related arrests between July 2017 and June 2020 were for possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and that Black people made up about 57% of the people arrested. Black residents make up about 24% of the city’s population.
That report led to Police Chief Eddie García in 2021 ordering officers to make fewer arrests of people found with small amounts of marijuana and issue citations instead.
A follow-up report released in 2023 found that, although arrests for possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana between 2018 and 2022 had significantly decreased, Black people still made up 52% of the arrests in 2021 and 69% in 2022.
Other citizen-led proposed charter changes
The Ground Game Texas petition is one of four citizen-led petitions being considered for city charter amendments. City Secretary Bilierae Johnson said Monday that signatures for three other petitions were submitted last week by Dallas HERO, another nonprofit coalition whose members say their proposals are meant to increase public safety and hold city officials more accountable to residents.
One proposal would require the city to increase the number of police officers by 1,000, raising the overall number to at least 4,000; make police department starting salaries and benefits within the top five of all departments in North Texas; and shift 50% of excess city revenue to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
A second proposal would require Dallas to waive its governmental immunity to allow residents to sue the city to force officials to comply with any city charter provision, city ordinance or state law.
The last proposal would require the outcome of the city’s annual community survey to result in consequences for the city manager that would range from performance bonuses to termination.
Dallas police staffing numbers and the more than $3 million funding gap for the city’s police and fire pension have been areas of concern for some city officials and residents in recent years. Dallas is also in the process of searching for a new city manager after T.C. Broadnax announced in February he was resigning and was hired two months later to be Austin’s city manager. The position is the city’s top administrative official and is appointed by the City Council.
Stefani Carter, a former state representative who is Dallas HERO’s honorary chair, told council members during a June 18 meeting that the group submitted more than the minimum amount of required signatures and that they were confident the proposals would be on the November ballot.
“We have repeatedly heard the police chief say he needs more police officers, and the residents of Dallas agree. … We all believe in a better, safer and more prosperous city,” Carter said.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
