Voters in another Texas city will have the chance to decide on a local marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot after the Lubbock City Council declined to enact the reform legislatively on Tuesday.
In a 0-7 vote, local lawmakers unanimously rejected the measure, which was put on the agenda after activists submitted enough signatures to force consideration of the decriminalization proposal. It will now go before voters in May 2024.
The committee behind the initiative first filed paperwork for the Freedom Act Lubbock ordinance with the city secretary in August. After activists turned in more than 10,000 signatures, officials confirmed that the campaign submitted enough petitions to move ahead in the process earlier this month.
Local legislators in Lubbock, which is Texas’s tenth largest city by population, had 30 days to hold a hearing and make a decision as to whether they would enact decriminalization legislatively. Because they declined to take that opportunity, as Everything Lubbock first reported, the proposal will go on the ballot for voters to decide next spring.
“The heart of our ordinance is pretty simple,” Adam Hernandez, communications chair for Lubbock Compact, said at Tuesday’s City Council hearing. “We just don’t think people should go to
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
