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City Council Meeting Minutes September 17, 2019 <br />comments: <br />"As always, I thank you all for your service and I wish to congratulate Chief <br />Bob Klett for his nomination as interim Chief of Police — he has done very <br />good work over the many years that I have known him. As we talk about the <br />changing of the guard, however, I would like to take this opportunity to urge <br />San Marcos Police Department to consider changes that will make it more <br />thoughtful and engaging in community policing. As you well know, Gov. <br />Abbot signed the Hemp Farming Act into law on June 10. This allows <br />Cannabis sativa to be sold as long as it does not contain more than 0.3% THC. <br />If the state now wants to prosecute cases of possession of marijuana, the DA's <br />office must prove that the cannabis plant, that someone was charged with <br />possessing, had less than 0.3% THC. This requires very expensive (and <br />currently unavailable) testing equipment, so all the major cities in Texas have <br />stopped prosecuting most of these cases because they cannot prove their case <br />under the law (they can't prove it was 0.3 vs. 0.4%). Even before the new hemp <br />law came into effect, a number of cities across the state began to offer <br />diversion programs for possession of small amounts of marijuana. In Harris <br />County, they started this in 2017 and although they are obviously much larger <br />than us, it was reported that in the first year alone, they saved over $17 million <br />dollars by implementing a marijuana diversion program in misdemeanor <br />possession cases. San Antonio did this, Austin did this and they are now <br />considering not charging any misdemeanor marijuana cases because of the new <br />law. And yet SMPD continues to arrest for this, which is a massive waste of <br />taxpayer resources and police time — not to mention the problems with jail <br />space and the potential damage to young people's futures. Our police <br />department has plenty to do with property crimes and crimes of violence. <br />Does anyone in this room feel safer that we continue to arrest - perhaps a <br />veteran with PTSD - for small amounts of marijuana? It costs people <br />thousands of dollars and in many cases gives our young people a lifetime arrest <br />record. On top of all this, data indicates that people of color are arrested for <br />this offense at significantly higher rates than whites. Completely unacceptable. <br />No good comes of this — for the city, the county and particularly those <br />arrested. Please let's support our new chief by encouraging community <br />policing and not wasting their limited and valuable resources on arresting <br />people for the minor misdemeanor offense of possession of marijuana. Thank <br />you." <br />Jordan Buckley, thanked PBS Lense, Move Texas and Texas rising for joining <br />tonight. He is delighted by the progress made by Hays County regarding <br />judicial reform. There is a pathway to optimal criminal justice and the first <br />step is often cite and release, followed by cite and divert. In cite and release <br />City of San Marcos Page 2 <br />