Just another little piece of legislation popping up around the country that speaks loudly to the fact that there are forces saying that’s as far as we are letting cannabis go.
Marijuana Moment
The Texas Senate has approved a bill that would prohibit cities from putting any citizen initiative on local ballots that would decriminalize marijuana or other controlled substances—as several localities have already done despite lawsuits from the state attorney general.
The legislation from Sen. Charles Perry (R) is responsive to those local reforms, and it passed the chamber on Wednesday in a 23-8 vote. It now heads to the House of Representatives.
Under the proposal, state law would be amended to say that local entities “may not place an item on a ballot, including a municipal charter or charter amendment, that would provide that the local entity will not fully enforce” state drug laws.
The latest version of the legislation as amended in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee would also specifically bar localities from putting initiatives on the ballot that would contravene the state’s consumable hemp laws.
It would also require the attorney general to create a form for people to report violations of the law. And it’d expedite legal proceedings to challenge any city, mandating that an appellate court “render its final order or judgment with the least possible delay,” a legislative analysis says.
Cities found to be in violation of the law by placing a decriminalization initiative—or any measure that conflicts with state or federal drug laws—would be subject to a $25,000 civil fine for a first offense and a $50,000 fine for any subsequent offense.
