I’m writing in response to your June 12 article, ”The soon-to-be laws that could have the biggest impact on Denton,” for the purpose of dispelling any further speculation that HB 2127 “might affect Denton’s misdemeanor marijuana enforcement ordinance that voters passed in November,” aka Proposition B.
HB 2127 very clearly does not apply to any aspect of Prop B, and for a reason totally unrelated to the debate referenced in your article over whether or not Prop B violates state law (which, as your article mentions, Decriminalize Denton is confident that it doesn’t; Prop B was painstakingly written to comply with state law, hence its numerous limitations and qualifications referencing state law). HB 2127 applies ONLY to the following six municipal or county codes: agriculture, finance, insurance, labor, natural resources and occupations. Prop B simply does NOT fall under any of those six codes; instead, it falls under the Code of Criminal Procedure, which is nowhere on that list. Therefore nobody can reasonably argue that HB 2127 applies to Prop B.
Although there is much about HB 2127 that’s alarming and ambiguous in its state-sanctioned attack on local control, the question of which county or municipal codes it applies to is really that crystal clear. Considering the many legitimate concerns about HB 2127’s potential impacts on cities like Denton, the easily dispelled and totally groundless rumor that it might affect Denton’s Prop B is an unfortunate distraction.
Deb Armintor,
Denton
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