HARKER HEIGHTS, Texas — It's a hot topic that's been ongoing for months: the debate over Proposition A, which tells police to not go after possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Harker Heights voters passed the ordinance in the November election with a 64% vote. In a 4-1 vote, council members reversed that decision. Now, it's on the ballot again for next month.
One Texas woman is still fighting for the people's voice and is not giving up. Julie Oliver is the Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, which is a nonprofit that helps put ballot initiatives on popular issues on ballots across the state. She tells 6 News they have won every election where they have had a ballot initiative.
Now, she is fighting against repeal on Proposition A in Harker Heights.
"The majority wants to have the Harker Heights Police Department, focus on things other than, you know, harassing people for misdemeanor amounts of marijuana possession, when there are you know, property crimes, when there is violent crimes that need to be attended to and solved," Oliver said.
She says the actions from city council do not align with American values.
"For them to take away the voice of 5,200 voters in Harker Heights is really un-democratic and it's un-American," Oliver said. "That's the most un-democratic thing that you could do. We had free and fair elections last November. The people decided in Harker Heights that they wanted to decriminalize misdemeanor amounts of marijuana and city council, took that vote away, took their voice away."
Harker Heights City Council sent 6 News a statement saying:
The Council voted “no” to repeal the repeal at the Council meeting on 1/10/23. It is the City’s position that Prop A is inconsistent with State Law, a position that the City has held publicly even before the November election. It is important to note that the City has no authority to stop an initiative petition from going to election even if the result is a null ordinance. Prop A and the Referendum Petition both seek a local action for something that is solely within the authority of the State. The City fully recognizes that 64% of voters in the November election desired to pass Prop A. However, the City does not have the authority to pass regulations inconsistent with State law. Prop A remains repealed and the City continues to follow all State laws.
Despite what the city council says, that's not stopping Oliver from making sure the majority voice is heard.
"We collected signatures and about 11 days to put it back on the ballot and that would mean we would put it back on the ballot this time," Oliver said. "What we're asking people to do is basically repeal City Council's vote. So do you want their vote to stand? We're asking people to vote no. We do not want city council to vote to stand because that was their vote to repeal the voice of the people of Harker Heights."
6 News will keep you updated as this story further develops.