AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was very vocal about House Bill 63, saying he will not support reducing penalties for small amounts of marijuana.
The bill received a final approval on Tuesday and is now on its way to the Texas Senate.
As a supporter of legalizing marijuana, Karen Reeves of CenTex Community Outreach says she hopes the marijuana penalty reduction bill passes. The bill would lessen criminal penalties for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana
"I’m hopeful that they will pass this bill without too much debate,” says Reeves. "I do expect them to have a lot of questions on what the laws are now and what the laws could be and what damages are done to people now and families in the future."
In a 103-42 vote--the Texas House approved the bill. If signed into law, marijuana penalties would be reduced to a class C misdemeanor, and jail time wouldn't be on the table in minor cases.
Reeves says she used marijuana to help with her chronic pain and wished these rules would have applied the day she was arrested for having it.
"This bill HB-63 could have benefited me and probably changed my whole life," says Reeves. "These last 15 years I’ve gone without a driver’s license and a car because I was in such fear and so traumatized by my arrest that I sold my car and moved a mile from the school. I look back and think we lost out on a lot in life by doing that."
Patrick put a damper on Reeves hopes of this bill passing the Texas Senate. In a tweet, he wrote the bill will be "dead in the Texas senate," and he opposes this step toward legalization of marijuana.
The bill was authored by representative Joe Moody from El Paso. He fired back on his Twitter account, saying "We've waited six years to bring the bill to the house floor," and "we are nowhere near the end of this conversation.”
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