The Texas House of Representatives committee on Friday took up legislation that would prevent cities from including citizen initiatives for decriminalizing marijuana and other controlled substances on local ballots.
Two days after an amended version submitted by Rep. Jeff Leach was approved in the Senate, the House State Affairs Committee conducted a hearing to discuss the bill’s companion from Rep. Jeff Leach.
In recent years, local government members in Texas adopted ordinances and policies that were designed to either decriminalize controlled drugs or to instruct the law enforcement to not enforce the drug laws of the state,” Leach stated, pointing out that Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton’s (R) lawsuits have been filed against several municipalities that had implemented the reform.
He said that, “Although the lawsuits remain pending, local governments are adopting these policies in increasing numbers across our state. This bill is meant to combat this trend.”
According to the proposed law, local authorities “may not conduct an election to approve a proposed charter” or an amendment of a charter which violates state drug laws.
The state law on controlled substances also prohibits them from “adopting, publishing, enforcing, repealing, maintaining, or amending an ordinance, order or policy or rule or regulation”.
Leach described changes made to a bill substitute that seemed designed to align with the version passed Wednesday by the Senate.
For example, it removes language that would have required local compliance with federal drug laws, which the sponsor said was necessary “because federal law is extremely broad, and the state is allowed and empowered to regulate drugs—and often does do so more strictly than the federal government.”
A second change, he added, “requires that local governments comply with the state’s laws on consumable hemp products.”
“Members, it’s of vital importance that the laws of the state—the laws that this legislature considers and deliberates, ultimately votes into law with—that they’re complied with and that they’re enforced, regardless of whether or not one may agree or disagree with what those laws are,” Leach said.
He said that a low-level marijuana offense may not appear to be a big deal. The concern is that once the precedent for local governments to ignore our laws has been established, other laws may follow.
It would also mandate that the Attorney General create a reporting form so people could report any law violations. It would also expedite the legal process to take on any city by mandating an appeals court render its “final order or judgement with as little delay as possible.”
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.
If the decriminalization of local laws is already forbidden by statute as a result of the lawsuits filed by the attorney general, it’s unclear why the proposed changes to the Code are needed. However, the proposed legislation seems to increase enforcement and penalties.
An appellate court composed of three conservative Justices, appointed by the Governor, has recently overturned two previous rulings that upheld local decriminalization policies. Greg Abbott (R), has recently taken a stand against these rulings. He is siding with Texas in the legal challenges to marijuana policies in Austin and San Marcos.
Meanwhile, despite the ongoing litigation and advancement of the House and Senate bills, Texas activists have their targets set on yet another city, Kyle, where they hope put an initiative before voters to enact local marijuana reform at the ballot this coming November.
Abbott has attacked municipal efforts to legalize cannabis.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s work together to ensure that as a collective, the state will be able to pass some law.
The state’s statutes would be changed to allow voters to choose which laws to follow in their city. This, he said, could lead to chaos and an unworkable system.
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.
In 2023, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. The report found that these measures would keep hundreds out of prison, even though they had led to a backlash from the law enforcement agencies in certain cities. Report said that the initiatives had also increased voter participation by appearing on ballots.
Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio that year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.
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Meanwhile, late last month the Texas Senate approved a bill that cannabis advocates and stakeholders said would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.
That, as well as another measure from Rep. Joe Moody (D) to decriminalize cannabis statewide, is one of the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Other measures include legalizing adult-use cannabis, removing criminal penalties for possession of cannabis, and adjusting the existing state medical marijuana laws.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.
Separately, a Texas House committee took testimony on Monday about two bills designed to prepare the state to provide swift access to therapeutic psychedelics in the event of approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to a recent poll, a majority in Pennsylvania supports marijuana legalization. Opposition has decreased by more than half over the past decade.
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