Texas voters decide on Dallas HERO amendments on 2024 election ballot
Voters in Dallas, Texas, are deciding key races and issues on Election Day, including three controversial amendments on the 2024 ballot that seek to change the city's charter.
The three amendments are called the HERO amendments, which were added to the ballot after Dallas HERO, a bipartisan group, collected more than 169,000 signatures to do so. They are on the ballot as Proposition S, Proposition T and Proposition U and have been hotly contested among current and former Dallas city leaders.
What are the HERO amendments?
The three proposed initiatives seek to increase the total number of Dallas police officers and guarantee a competitive starting salary for Dallas Police Department employees. They would also subject the Dallas city manager to performance-based pay and allow citizens to sue government officials who don't follow the law.
- Proposition S would remove governmental immunity and allow any resident to sue the City of Dallas if it doesn't comply with charter amendments and local ordinances.
- Proposition T would mandate an annual quality-of-life survey. With as few as 1,400 responses, the city manager could receive a performance bonus equal to a year's salary or be fired.
- Proposition U would force the city to maintain a minimum police force of 4,000 officers, which is almost 900 more than the city has right now. The charter amendment would also mandate that at least 50% of any additional revenue the city receives from any source would be directed to the police and fire pension fund and higher salaries for police.
Each proposition needs a simple majority, or the highest number of votes, to pass.
Pete Marocco, executive director of the HERO Initiative, which is behind the amendments, said, "We need accountability at City Hall."
"Our elected officials posture, fundraise, and bicker instead of bringing solutions for the police and fire pension problems," he told Jack Fink in October. "The bottom line is this: The city's $5 billion budget can afford more officers and must prioritize over these grifters' pet projects for their friends."
Others, though, have pushed back against the proposed changes to the city charter, which outlines the local government's power and structure.
"As tempting as it sounds to have 4,000 Dallas police officers … this amendment spells doom for spending on street code compliance, library services, parks, economic development, and other vital city services," former Dallas Chief of Police David Brown said at an event campaigning against the amendments earlier in October.