Welcome to the Monday, May 1, Brew.
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- San Antonio voters to decide measure on abortion, marijuana, policing
- New York adopts new state Assembly lines
- Number of enacted election-related bills on par with 2022
Goodbye, April showers, time for some May flowers!
San Antonio voters to decide measure on abortion, marijuana, policing
Voters in San Antonio will decide on a charter amendment regarding abortion, marijuana, and police actions on May 6.
If approved, Proposition A would:
- Prohibit local police from enforcing criminal abortion laws;
- Decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana;
- Ban the use of no-knock warrants and chokeholds;
- Direct local police to issue citations instead of arrests for certain other misdemeanors; and,
- Establish a city justice director appointed by the mayor and city council.
Before we dive into the measure, I asked our Ballots Managing Editor, Ryan Byrne, about this amendment. Byrne said, “We’ve heard about cities decriminalizing marijuana in states where it’s illegal, but this is the first measure that attempts to decriminalize abortion at the local level.”
In 2022, residents in six Texas cities—Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen, and San Marcos—voted in favor of decriminalizing marijuana possession. The Austin measure also banned law enforcement’s use of no-knock…
