Killeen public hearing on decriminalization set for Tuesday

A Ground Game Texas representative is scheduled to attend a Killeen City Council public hearing on decriminalization on Tuesday, but no rally is planned.

“I’ll be there, but I’m not aware of anything happening before the meeting,” Louie Minor said.

Minor is part of Ground Game Texas, a group of progressive Democrats advocating for the decriminalization initiative in Killeen and in other cities, including Harker Heights, Denton, San Marcos and Elgin.

Council members could adopt an ordinance that would require Killeen police to ignore misdemeanor amounts — less than 4 ounces — of marijuana, Or, the council could decide to send the petition initiative to the ballot in November.

“There’s movement at the state level and at the federal level for this,” Minor told the Killeen Daily Herald last week. “So, I don’t think Killeen should wait for someone else to make that decision. Citizens want this. Citizens signed the petition to have this.”

It will have been a week since about eight residents criticized the City Council for initially scheduling a public hearing that night, July 19, on the initiative ordinance but never adding it to the agenda. Instead, council members entered executive session to talk about the “legal ramification” of adopting such an ordinance, Councilman Jose Segarra has told the newspaper.

The public hearing on the initiative ordinance is the first item to be considered on the Killeen City Council agenda following eight discussion items and a resolution.

Also Tuesday evening, Harker Heights is scheduled to host public hearing on its decriminalization ordinance. Ground Game Texas co-founder Julie Oliver is expected to attend that meeting.

“Under the Texas Constitution, Killeen has all the powers of self-governance, except what is specifically taken away by the state,” Oliver said during the July 19 meeting. “It’s called ‘home rule,’ and home rule cities like Killeen have put the powers in the hands of their citizens. I call it direct democracy.”

Oliver has also told the Herald that “it’s called ‘local control.’ And cities are permitted to allocate resources how they see fit. Cities have broad discretionary powers when it comes to prioritization of laws.”

Killeen’s city charter requires that the City Council takes action on a lawful petition — one that includes the required number of signatures that have been verified — whether that is adopting an ordinance or sending it to ballot.

More than 3,000 people signed the petition, Minor said.

“The city needed to certify a little over 1,000 (signatures). Once they reached that threshold, they just stopped counting after that.”

Interim City Secretary Laura Calcote told the newspaper last week that on June 14, then-City Secretary Lucy Aldrich — certified that more than 1,018 registered voters signed the petition in support of an initiative ordinance eliminating low-level marijuana enforcement.

In a story published in the Herald on Sunday, Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols said that the Killeen City Council “cannot make state law on the local level,” and Harker Heights City Manager David Mitchell said that case law shows that courts won’t consider that argument — a legislative issue — until an ordinance is adopted or voters approve it at the ballot box.

The Killeen and Harker Heights city council meetings are both set for 5 p.m.