LEGE TAKES UP POT SMOKING

Naked City

The House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence on April 8 heard testimony on
HB 715, a bill by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, to lower simple possession
of up to 1 ounce of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to
a $500 fine and no jail time. Dutton's measure would also forbid the state
from suspending the driver license of a person convicted of the offense.
Currently, possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana is a Class B
misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and/or 180 days in jail.

While keeping small-time drug offenders out of jail would certainly save
money in the criminal-justice system, Dutton's bill, according to the
Legislative Budget Board's fiscal note, could cost Texas nearly $164
million per year in federal highway funds if the driver-license provision
remains in place. A committee substitute bill that would remove that
provision was offered by committee chair Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, but was
later withdrawn. Still, the measure got support from NORML, LULAC, the
NAACP National Voter Fund, and others. Predictably, prosecutors from both
Harris and Dallas counties signed on as opposing the bill, though neither
of their representatives actually testified.

Mark Stepnowski, the ex-Dallas Cowboys player who is now president of Texas
NORML, pointed out that in 2001 alone, police made 47,000 simple-possession
arrests statewide -- nearly one every 11 minutes and 90% of the state's
total marijuana-related arrests. Making simple possession a citation that
could be adjudicated in municipal court would save taxpayer money, he said.
Dutton told the committee that he understands members might "measure the
political cost" of voting for such a measure, "but measure [instead] where
we might've spent this money," he said, and "how we could make better use
of taxpayer money."