Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has received another setback in his attempt to overturn local marijuana ordinances.
San Marcos.
Hays County District Judge Sherri Tibbe has dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit against San Marcos, which sought to have the courts throw out a voter approved ordinance that decriminalized the possession of marijuana. The move comes a little over a month after Travis County District Court Judge Jan Soifer similarly threw out a challenge to Austin’s marijuana decriminalization ordinance.
“Judge Tibbe rightly recognized Paxton has no legal basis for interfering with the will of local voters or municipal governments,” said Catina Voellinger, executive director for Ground Game Texas.”
Eric Martinez, Executive Director of Mano Amiga, said “This dismissal is not just a win for the City of San Marcos but also for all communities striving to uphold justice and local governance free from unwarranted state interference. It reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that our city officials can follow the will of the voters and perform their duties without the shadow of unfounded legal challenges.”
The group has successfully placed a marijuana decrim ordinance on the November ballot in Dallas.
Paxton has similarly filed lawsuits against the cities of Killeen, Elgin, and Denton over their marijuana decrim ordinances. At the time of publication, those lawsuits remain active.
According to the Texas Lyceum Poll released last month, 60% of registered voters in Texas are in favor of legalizing marijuana, whereas 31% are opposed, and 9% remain undecided. Of those opposed to legalization, 42% support decriminalizing marijuana, and 47% favor maintaining current prohibition and criminalization policies.
