Texas Lawmakers Pass A Bill To Stop Criminalizing Marijuana
This week, a committee of the Texas House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would make it legal to have small amounts of marijuana. On Tuesday, the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee voted 9 to 0 in favor of House Bill 218.
If the bill is signed into law, people who have up to one ounce of marijuana or cannabis concentrate will not be punished by the law. This kind of possession would be changed to a Class C misdemeanor, which can lead to a fine of up to $500 but not an arrest.
“Basically, the person gets a ticket, goes to court, is given a fine, and the court tells them, ‘You have six months to pay, and you need to stay out of trouble during that time,'” Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody said at a hearing for the bill on Tuesday, according to a report from Marijuana Moment.
The bill says that courts must wait to decide on the ticket until the probationary period is over. If everything is done right, the charge can be removed from the criminal’s record.
“If the person does their part, the court dismisses the charges and, at the person’s request, deletes all the information about it,” said Moody, who is in charge of the committee. “The person leaves with less money in their wallet but no record of a crime.”
Bill Lowers the Penalties for Having Marijuana
House Bill 218 also lowers the punishments for other marijuana crimes. For example, having one to two ounces of marijuana is now a Class B misdemeanor, which means you can’t be arrested for it. Possession of two to four ounces of pot would become a Class A misdemeanor instead of a felony. Some past convictions for marijuana possession can also be erased under some of the rules in the bill.
Under Texas law, it is a Class B misdemeanor to have up to two ounces of marijuana. Possession of two to four ounces of marijuana is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000. It is a crime to have more than four ounces of marijuana or any amount of cannabis concentrate.
“Every year, tens of thousands of people are arrested in Texas for having drugs for personal use, which costs our state hundreds of millions of dollars and a lot of police and prosecutor time,” Moody told the committee on Tuesday. “They also give people, mostly young people, criminal records that make it hard for them to get jobs, go to school, find a place to live, or do other things for the rest of their lives. That’s a bad investment and a bad result no matter how you look at it.”
Now, House Bill 218 is going to the House Calendars Committee, which is in charge of setting up when the bill will be discussed on the floor.
Local Pot Decriminalization Bill Also Pending
Moody’s bill is not the only proposal to change how Texas handles marijuana. Last month, Democratic state Rep. Jessica González introduced a bill that would let county and city governments legalize recreational marijuana at the local level. House Bill 1937 tells the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to make all the rules needed for licensing, regulation, testing standards, and transportation, as well as for running and enforcing the law.
“Twenty-one states in the United States have made it legal to use cannabis, and twenty-seven states have made it less illegal to use cannabis. “A recent study showed that most Texans supported legalizing marijuana in some way,” González said in a statement. “Texas has made progress with the Compassionate Use Act, but we have missed out on a possible revenue source that could help us invest more in public education, stop arrests for cannabis possession that aren’t necessary, and create jobs in our state. We should let each community decide for itself whether or not to legalize cannabis, and House Bill 1937 would make that possible for adults over 21.
