Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Dallas over the newly approved Proposition R — which decriminalizes up to four ounces of marijuana in the city.
The filing names the entire Dallas City Council, Mayor Eric Johnson, Interim Police Chief Michael Igo and Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.
Dallas voters approved the charter amendment on election night with almost 67% of the vote. Regardless, Paxton said in a Thursday press release that “cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow.”
“The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them. This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office,” the press release said.
Paxton has already sued multiple cities including Austin and Denton for passing similar ordinances.
“I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities,” Paxton wrote in a press release earlier this year.
Part of the new charter amendment directs the Dallas Police Department to “stop issuing citations or making arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession.” Another section prohibits city funds or personnel from being used to conduct testing on “any cannabis-related substance” to figure out if it meets the legal definition of marijuana under state and federal laws.
The amendment language also says that police officers can’t consider the smell of marijuana as probable cause for search and seizure — “except in the limited circumstances of a police investigation.” And the proposal says officers can be punished if they are found to be violating the policy.
The Dallas City Council adopted the election results on Tuesday. But the legal obligation did not stop three elected officials from trying to delay the policy until marijuana is legal in Texas.
District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn made a move to add a clause to the approval.
“…Clarifying that Proposition R conflicts with state law and inserting a section clarifying that because Proposition R is inconsistent with, and preempted by state law, it shall not be enforced unless and until state law changes,” Mendelsohn’s amendment read.
The measure, which was placed on the ballot by a group called Ground Game Texas, was approved with almost 67% of the vote on election night. Some members of the council advocated for the measure and did not agree with Mendelsohn’s move.
“We had hundreds of people show up here to advocate for Proposition R, for marijuana reform and there’s not a single person in the audience today because of the way this [meeting] was noticed,” District 1 Council Member Chad West said during the meeting.
West said if the meeting agenda had indicated the possibility of a move like the one Mendelsohn suggested, “we’d have a packed room right now, they would be overflowing into the courtyard.”
Mendelsohn’s motion failed and the council adopted the results of the election. Now the city must deal with Paxton’s legal hurdles.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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