Bill to decriminalize minor marijuana possession up for debate

So far, Texas hasn’t joined the national movement to decriminalize marijuana. But a bill in a state house committee could start to change that.

House bill 507 proposed by El Paso democrat Joe Moody would de-criminalize having small amounts of pot. It’s one of several addressing marijuana this legislative session. But Moody said it would have one of the biggest impacts.

According to statistics from Moody’s office, Texas spends $734 million a year making 70,000 marijuana arrests and prosecutions, many involving young people with small amounts.

Moody said Texas is wasting time and money on these minor offenses. He thinks a non-criminal fine should apply instead, like a traffic ticket.

“So you’re not going to have arrests, you’re not going to have jail time, you’re not going to go along with all these expenses that it costs us the taxpayers to do that,” Moody said. “And for the offender, they’re going to appear, pay a fine, and they’re going to be able to not be derailed from their life going forward.”

In El Paso, the district attorney prosecuted over 4,700 cases for possessing less than two ounces of marijuana over the last two years. Under Moody’s bill, some of those would instead be just a civil offense with a fine of $250 as the bill stands Wednesday. That means they wouldn’t show up as a criminal offense, which Moody said has been having a greater impact than it ought.

“Some of those people will be testifying in the committee tonight about how they lost financial aid because of minor possession convictions,” Moody said. “Because they couldn’t get a job or they couldn’t — manage to rent an apartment.”

The bill was up for discussion in the house criminal jurisprudence committee Wednesday night. ABC-7 will have the latest as the legislation develops.