Naked City

The House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence on April 8 heard testimony on HB 715, a bill by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, to lower simple possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine and no jail time. Dutton's measure would also forbid the state from suspending the driver license of a person convicted of the offense. Currently, possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and/or 180 days in jail.

While keeping small-time drug offenders out of jail would certainly save money in the criminal-justice system, Dutton's bill, according to the Legislative Budget Board's fiscal note, could cost Texas nearly $164 million per year in federal highway funds if the driver-license provision remains in place. A committee substitute bill that would remove that provision was offered by committee chair Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, but was later withdrawn. Still, the measure got support from NORML, LULAC, the NAACP National Voter Fund, and others. Predictably, prosecutors from both Harris and Dallas counties signed on as opposing the bill, though neither of their representatives actually testified.

Mark Stepnowski, the ex-Dallas Cowboys player who is now president of Texas NORML, pointed out that in 2001 alone, police made 47,000 simple-possession arrests statewide -- nearly one every 11 minutes and 90% of the state's total marijuana-related arrests. Making simple possession a citation that could be adjudicated in municipal court would save taxpayer money, he said. Dutton told the committee that he understands members might "measure the political cost" of voting for such a measure, "but measure [instead] where we might've spent this money," he said, and "how we could make better use of taxpayer money."