Latest news with #FifteenthCourtofAppeals
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appellate court finds Austin's marijuana ordinance unlawful
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas appellate court has reversed a Travis County judge's decision to throw out a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against the city of Austin over its marijuana decriminalization ordinance. 'We have inspected the record and find error in the order granting appellees' plea to the jurisdiction and the order denying appellant's application for temporary injunction. We therefore order the judgment of the court below REVERSED and REMAND the cause for proceedings in accordance with the court's opinion,' the ruling said. In 2022, more than 85% of Austin voters approved a proposition to decriminalize less than four ounces of the drug. 'This court ruling is a huge letdown. Austin voters made their voices loud and clear in 2022, and instead of respecting that, the State has chosen to ignore their will,' Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes said. 'Now, our police will be forced to waste time on minor marijuana cases instead of focusing on violent crimes. Once again, the State is stepping on local decisions that reflect the values Austin residents actually care about.' While this ruling opens the door for officers to resume citing people for possession, city officials say their focus remains on more serious crimes. 'Sometimes the court system, and in this case the attorney general, are not in agreement with Austin voters,' Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter said. Alter added that if the policy needs to change, Austin will comply. San Marcos got the same answer from the appellate court last Thursday. The court also issued an opinion siding with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, stating that San Marcos' marijuana decriminalization ordinance violates state law. In 2022, over 80% of San Marcos voters approved a proposition that ended low-level marijuana enforcement in the city. In 2024, Paxton sued San Marcos and other cities, including Austin and Killeen, over marijuana decriminalization ordinances passed around the same time or shortly after San Marcos. Appellate court finds San Marcos voter-approved marijuana ordinance unlawful 'The Texas Local Government Code prohibits the 'governing body of a municipality… municipal police department, municipal attorney, county attorney, district attorney, or criminal district attorney' from 'adopt[ing] a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs,'' the opinion filed in the Fifteenth Court of Appeals read. 'San Marcos, however, has passed a local ordinance prohibiting its police officers from issuing citations and making arrests for certain low-level marijuana offenses,' it continued. A Hays County district court judge dismissed the lawsuit in July 2024, but it is now likely to go to trial. In a statement to KXAN, the city of San Marcos confirmed it cannot enforce the marijuana ordinance 'pending a trial on the merits.' KXAN's Sam Stark contributed to this report. You can find his full report on San Marcos' ruling here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appellate court finds San Marcos voter-approved marijuana ordinance unlawul
SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – An appellate court last Thursday issued an opinion siding with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, stating that San Marcos' marijuana decriminalization ordinance violates state law. In 2022, over 80% of San Marcos voters approved a proposition that ended low-level marijuana enforcement in the city. In 2024, Paxton sued San Marcos and other cities, including Austin and Killeen, over marijuana decriminalization ordinances passed around the same time or shortly after San Marcos. 'The Texas Local Government Code prohibits the 'governing body of a municipality… municipal police department, municipal attorney, county attorney, district attorney, or criminal district attorney' from 'adopt[ing] a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs,'' the opinion filed in the Fifteenth Court of Appeals read. 'San Marcos, however, has passed a local ordinance prohibiting its police officers from issuing citations and making arrests for certain low-level marijuana offenses,' it continued. A Hays County district court judge dismissed the lawsuit in July 2024, but it is now likely to go to trial. San Marcos attorney David Sergi said he believes there will be an increase in citations in the wake of this opinion. 'I believe you'll see a ramp-up in [raids] and that you will see a ramp-up in enforcement efforts,' said Sergi, an expert in Texas marijuana and hemp laws. 'People are actually speaking. They're going to the ballot box. They're doing the things you do in a democracy. And [this opinion] is basically going to invalidate that. It's going to invalidate the voice of the people,' Sergi continued. KXAN reached out to the San Marcos Police Department and asked how this opinion will change its policies. We will update this story once we hear back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court overturns San Marcos' marijuana decriminalization ordinance
The Brief A Texas appellate court Thursday ruled that San Marcos' marijuana decriminalization ordinance was unenforceable and issued a temporary injunction. The ordinance passed in 2022 with nearly 82% of voters voting in favor of decriminalization. Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city, saying the ordinance violated state laws. SAN MARCOS, Texas - A Texas appellate court ruled that a voter-passed ordinance that decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in San Marcos is unenforceable under state law. What we know The Fifteenth Court of Appeals issued the ruling Thursday saying the ordinance, which passed in 2022, was in violation of a state law that prohibits local governments from adopting policies that will not fully enforce state drug laws. The ordinance overwhelmingly passed in 2022 with nearly 82% of voters in favor of the measure. Proposition A decriminalized possession of up to four ounces marijuana and ended citations and arrests by San Marcos police unless it was part of a larger investigation involving violence or felony-level narcotics. The ordinance also ended citations for drug residue or paraphernalia, prohibited the use of city funds to test the level of THC, and stopped police from using the smell of marijuana as probable cause to search a vehicle or home. What they're saying "All of these Ordinance prohibitions are barriers to the full enforcement of Texas drug laws and thus conflict with Local Government Code Section 370.003," Judge April Farris said in the ruling. In a release, representatives from Mano Amiga Action and Ground Game Texas, two of the groups that spearheaded the ordinance, called the court's decision a "deeply troubling move for local democracy." "Texans have made their voices heard at the ballot box again and again: they don't want their money going towards unnecessary arrests," Catina Voellinger, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, said. "This ruling is proof that the state isn't working to make communities safer—it's working to crush people-powered movements." The backstory In 2022, San Marcos was one of five cities in Texas that voted to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. The other cities were Denton, Elgin, Killeen and Harker Heights. Attorney General Ken Paxton sued San Marcos, along with Austin, Killeen, Elgin and Denton in 2024 over the policies. A Hays County district judge dismissed Paxton's lawsuit saying the attorney general's office lacked jurisdiction and denied the state's request to prevent the ordinance from being enforced. Thursday's ruling from the appeals court allows a temporary injunction to go into effect and establishes that the attorney general has jurisdiction to file suit against the city and city officials. The Fifteenth Circuit Court of Appeals was created in 2023 to have jurisdiction over appeals involving disputes brought by or against the state and challenges to state stautes. Mano Amiga Executive Director Eric Martinez called the court's decision "judicial gerrymandering." "Let's be clear—this decision didn't come from a court grounded in community," Martinez said. "It came from a court manufactured by the same state officials bringing the lawsuit, with the express goal of silencing progressive policies that Texans are voting for at the local level." The Source Information in this article comes from court documents filed in the Fifteenth Circuit Appeals Court, a release from Mano Amiga Action and Ground Game Texas and previous FOX 7 reporting.
