Local lawmakers in Lockhart, Texas have officially placed a marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot—reaching a compromise with activists after the city attorney attempted to revise the proposal in a way that supporters worried would face legal challenges and potentially upend the reform.
Advocates with Ground Game Texas and the Mano Amiga Responsible Implementation (MARI) turned in signatures to qualify the cannabis initiative for ballot placement late last month. But members of the Lockhart City Council were presented with alternative language that would’ve broken the measure up into 13 separate questions that voters would’ve had to individually decide on at the ballot.
Following a hearing on Monday, however, there was an agreement to reach a compromise, with the council approving a revised version of the Lockhart Freedom Act in a 6-1 vote that maintains its core language in a singular form.
“From the start, this ballot initiative has been a community effort,” Catina Voellinger, Ground Game Texas executive director, said in a press release on Tuesday. “Last night, Lockhart citizens engaged in the democratic process by telling their local representatives that the language at the ballot must be clear and easily understood. City Council has heeded those demands in putting marijuana decriminalization on the ballot as a single proposition. Ground Game Texas is excited to support our coalition partners as we work to get out the vote this November.”
Elle Cross, Mano Amiga Responsible Implementation campaign director, said advocates are “appreciative to the city for responding to the concerns of Lockhart citizens.”
“With over 45 minutes of public comment in favor of more clear ballot language, it is clear that true democracy must be honored,” Cross said. “This whole initiative is about people power—and if our community hadn’t shown up, the amendment might have appeared on the ballot as 13 separate propositions. We look forward to seeing folks at the polls.”
Ahead of the vote, Ground Game Texas sounded the alarm about the potential fragmentation of the measure under the proposal pushed by City Attorney Brad Bullock.
Cross said in a press release on Monday that it was “crucial we fight back against any attempt to undermine our collective voice.”
“We must stand united to ensure our initiative is presented as one measure on the ballot, respecting the will of the voters and maintaining the integrity of our democratic process,” she said.
Mike Siegel, Ground Game Texas general counsel, said the legislative staff proposal was “both anti-democratic and illegal.”
“After the City Secretary’s decision to certify the Lockhart Freedom Act petition, the City Council has a ministerial, nondiscretionary duty to place the Lockhart Freedom Act on the ballot,” he said. “The staff proposal to break the Lockhart Freedom Act into thirteen pieces would exceed the authority of the City Council and violate the will of the voters who signed a single petition for a comprehensive marijuana enforcement policy.”
Meanwhile, voters in the Texas cities of Dallas and Bastrop will also decide on local marijuana decriminalization initiatives this fall.
Numerous marijuana decriminalization measures have already been enacted in cities across the Lone Star state in recent years, including Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos. They generally 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.
Advocates also scored another win in San Marcos last month after a Texas district judge dismissed a lawsuit from the state’s Republican attorney general that sought to overturn a local decriminalization ordinance in that city.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit in January challenging local decriminalization laws that were enacted in five cities: Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton. A different district judge had overturned the suit in Austin in June.
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 had used more inflammatory rhetoric when his office announced that it was suing the five cities over their local laws decriminalizing marijuana, vowing to overrule the “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.
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.
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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 in May.
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.”
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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