A bill that would significantly reduce the penalties in Texas for being caught with a personal amount of marijuana passed in the House yesterday. But this morning, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared it “dead” in a tweet.
“Criminal Justice Chair @Whitmire_John is right that #HB 63 is dead in the @Texas Senate. I join with those House Republicans who oppose this step toward legalization of marijuana.”
Criminal Justice Chair @Whitmire_John is right that #HB 63 is dead in the @Texas Senate. I join with those House Republicans who oppose this step toward legalization of marijuana.
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) April 30, 2019
Patrick has control over the Senate agenda and thus a license to kill legislation he dislikes, even one that – despite his tweet – enjoys bipartisan support. House Bill 63 would reduce the Lone Star State’s stiff cannabis possession charge from a class B to class C misdemeanor if the possessor is holding less than an ounce. Currently anything less than 2 ounces constitutes a class B, with penalties up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine; under the bill filed by former prosecutor Joe Moody, D-El Paso, possession of under 1 ounce would be considered a class C, which means no arrest or jail time (but a fine of up to $500).
Under the preliminarily approved provision, if the individual busted for possessing flower – the bill would not impact concentrates – successfully follows a judge’s orders and stays out of trouble for a year, the case will be dismissed. That means no criminal charges will appear on their record and they won’t be docked with a drug charge that can trigger a driver’s license suspension and impact financial aid for education.
As approved by the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee last month, HB 63 reduced the personal-possession penalty even further, to a civil violation (i.e., a ticket), but was amended to gain passage from the full House on Monday. Now it faces a Senate overseen by Patrick, who’d already intimated in March, via a spokesperson, that he’s “strongly opposed to weakening any laws against marijuana [and] remains wary of the various medicinal use proposals that could become a vehicle for expanding access to this drug.”
There are 59 bills related to the decriminalization and medical uses of cannabis – plus a so-far-so-good proposal to legalize industrial hemp – that have been filed in this legislative session, which runs through May 27. Look for more about the state of cannabis reform in Texas in this week’s Chronicle.
This article appears in April 26 • 2019.