Dallas voters to decide on four controversial amendments

DALLAS - There are four controversial, voter-driven amendments on the ballot in Dallas that could have a big impact on the budget and public safety in the city.

It will be up to Dallas voters to decide if they are beneficial or harmful.

Proposition R - Decriminalizing Marijuana

The Dallas City Council was required by law to put Proposition R on the ballot due to the number of petition signatures submitted by the group Dallas Action.

It amends the city charter to decriminalize less than 4 ounces of the drug, making it the lowest enforcement priority for the Dallas Police Department.

Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section in Chapter XXIV that reforms marijuana possession enforcement by prohibiting the Dallas Police Department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession or considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigation; making enforcement of Class A (currently, two to four ounces) and Class B (currently, up to two ounces) misdemeanor marijuana possession the Dallas Police Department’s lowest enforcement priority; and prohibiting city funds or personnel from being used to test cannabis-related substances to determine whether a substance meets the legal definition of marijuana, except in limited circumstances?

"Our jail is full of people arrested for misdemeanor arrests," Changa Higgins with Dallas Action said in January. "And when you look at misdemeanor possession of marijuana, it's no different."

But former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia warned against the idea. 

He told Dallas City Council members that 4 ounces of marijuana is the amount used by drug dealers and pushed back on the idea that criminal enforcement is unfair and heavy-handed. 

"In my opinion, 4 ounces is not small or for personal use," Garcia said in August while holding up a gallon-sized plastic bag.

The coalition has had similar successful marijuana reform campaigns in Texas cities like Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, and Denton.

But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued cities like Denton and Austin over similar measures, saying they are in violation of Texas law.

Propositions S, T & U - The HERO Amendments

Propositions S, T, and U were put onto the ballot after the nonpartisan group Dallas HERO gathered 170,000 petition signatures.

If passed, the proposals would require the city to increase police pay and hire more officers, put the city manager on performance-based pay, and allow citizens to sue city officials if they don't follow the law.

Dallas officials say the proposals will cost the city tens of millions of dollars in funding and lead to cuts in city services.

Dallas HERO argues that the measures will hold government officials accountable and cut back on unnecessary spending.

Proposition S

Proposition S would allow Dallas residents to sue the city if it doesn't comply with the city charter, city ordinances, and state law.

Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new chapter that grants standing to any resident of Dallas to bring a lawsuit against the city to require the city to comply with provisions of the city charter, city ordinances, and state law; entitles claimants to seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the city and recover costs and reasonable attorney’s fees; and waives the city’s governmental immunity from suit and liability in claims brought under this amendment?

Almost all the living former mayors of Dallas – both Republican and Democrat – and many other prominent Dallas leaders believe the city will be flooded with lawsuits if Prop S passes, costing the city potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Taxpayers will foot the bill to defend the lawsuits.

"I love holding government officials accountable," said former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. "There's a right way and a wrong way to do it. (Proposition) S allows citizens to be able to sue the city for almost anything if it's in the city governance or the charter. No other city in the United States of America, no other state - the federal government - does not give away city immunity. For some reason, these people want Dallas to be the only city in the nation to give away immunity. So, neighbors can kind of sue the city if they get in an argument. Get in an argument about an ambulance not coming in time."

Rawlings believes lawyers will go crazy suing the city for any I that’s not dotted or T that’s not crossed because of how precise Dallas’ rules and regulations are.

Pete Marocco, Dallas HERO’s executive director, challenged the claim that every former mayor of Dallas opposed this amendment and said people absolutely should be able to hold their government accountable for not following the law.

"I want to be clear. Most of these people did not even read it. It states very clearly that this is for declaratory and injunctive relief. There’s no monetary damages. All these stories that people are going to be suing every time their trash is delivered late or something like that is just a bunch of alarmist language," he said. "We are very focused on just having the rule of law enforced."

Marocco said if the city doesn’t want to spend money on defending lawsuits, it can simply follow the law.

He also pointed out that there’s a 60-day notice provision that would give the city two months to comply with laws before there is a lawsuit.

Proposition T

Proposition T would create a community satisfaction survey related to the city manager's job - affecting compensation.

Shall Chapter VI of the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section compelling the city to conduct the city-commissioned Community Survey on an annual basis, to be completed by a minimum of 1,400 Dallas residents on their satisfaction on quality of life issues, the results of which will result in the city manager earning additional performance compensation (between 0 percent and 100 percent of the city manager’s annual base salary) or the termination of the city manager?

Opponents are worried about the average citizen with no management experience holding so much power over the city manager.

Marocco thinks that idea is kind of funny.

"Every single chief executive officer in the country is held to delivering results. That’s the bottom line. So, we want to see safety. We want to see improvements in homelessness. We want to see improvement in litter, aggressive panhandling, and streets. And the bottom line is those results aren’t happening," he said.

Marocco said the city already has a survey that Rawlings himself introduced.

"We’re just saying apply it, use it, and hold the city manager accountable to the results," the Dallas HERO executive director said. "This is something that’s already being implemented, it’s just not being used."

Proposition U

Proposition U focuses on public safety. It would require 50 percent of all new city revenue to go to police and fire pensions. It would also require a minimum of 4,000 police officers - that is 900 more officers than the current force.

Shall Chapter XI of the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section compelling city council to appropriate no less than 50 percent of annual revenue that exceeds the total annual revenue of the previous year to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension, with any monies remaining of that 50% to be appropriated to increasing the starting compensation of officers of the Dallas Police Department and to increase the number of police officers to a minimum of 4,000, and to maintain that ratio of officers to the City of Dallas population as of the date of passage of this amendment?

Dallas HERO has pushed back on claims this proposition is unaffordable for the city, saying the $5 billion budget can afford it, especially if the city cuts unnecessary spending. 

"It’s 50% of new revenue. We have more than the revenue that we need to implement this program," Marocco said. "You’re looking at just over 1% is the amount of money that we’re talking about just to get back to the minimum level of police officers that is required by the current law."

"I never said it was unaffordable," said Rawlings. "I think we need to hire more police officers. All these folks that are against these believe in hiring more police officers. The key is how to do it. It basically dictates how things are going to be run. We've got to make sure that we've got these folks trained, we've got to be able to recruit them. The chiefs of police, the good ones that we've worked with recently, said this is not the way to run it. We may have bad police officers out there. The key is retention and doing it right. Plus, it's going to cut all the other city services."

Marocco agreed that officer recruitment and retention are issues.

"Right now, Dallas police officers are paid $12,000 lower than Plano police officers. So how can you expect to retain somebody that’s been in for only four years that’s just out of the academy and has other options like that? We need to treat these officers better and we can’t ask them to work 14 and 16 hour shifts of overtime. It’s bad for them and it’s bad for the city," he said.