The Killeen City Council will receive a report on marijuana enforcement Tuesday as per the details of the city’s marijuana decriminalization ordinance — commonly referred to as of Proposition A — which passed in November 2022.
The city’s controversial law prohibits Killeen police officers from arresting and charging people found with misdemeanor amounts of marijuana — which opponents of the law say is a violation of state law.
The report to be presented to the City Council details incidents from Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023 and are all marijuana related incidents.
According to the presentation attached to the agenda, there were 712 marijuana offenses related to possession. The vast majority of them — 616 — were for possession under 2 ounces, a state misdemeanor.
In 101 of those 616 cases for possession under 2 ounces there were charges, the presentation says. The city law does allow city police to charge someone with a small amount of marijuana if the person is also charged with other crimes.
The vast majority of marijuana suspects were male and most of them were Black. However, the presentation said most of the charges were in combination with another charge. Only 20 were strictly related to marijuana.
Bell County and state officials have come out strongly against Killeen’s marijuana law, and filed lawsuits against the city and its leaders because of it.
The city of Killeen is currently embroiled in two lawsuits over Prop A, one from the state Attorney General and the other from Bell County. The city is defending both lawsuits.
The city of Killeen, as of last week, contends that it has spent approximately $71,000 on lawyer fees to defend those lawsuits, but has not updated that figure in at least a month.
Other items on the Tuesday agenda up for discussion include:
- A report on the new city hall from BSW Architects.
- ADA Compliance project updates.
- Adding November 5th Memorial to governing standards.
- Accepting an airport grant for Skylark Field
The City Council meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers at City Hall, 101 N. College St.
For those unable to attend the meeting in person, it will be livestreamed and archived for playback on the city’s website, KilleenTexas.gov. It will also be broadcast live on Spectrum Cable Channel 10.
