Texas Supreme Court rules in favor of HERO; Dallas City Council ordered to remove 3 charter amendments from Nov. ballot
DALLAS — The Texas Supreme Court ordered the Dallas City Council to remove three proposed charter amendments from the Nov. ballot, ruling in favor of the Dallas HERO Initiative.
The "citizen-led bipartisan initiative" claimed the council's amendments were meant to nullify their proposed amendments. The court agreed, saying the propositions contradict each other and the language would "confuse and mislead voters."
In June, the Dallas HERO Initiative successfully petitioned to have three proposed amendments added to the Nov. ballot, submitting over 169,000 signatures. HERO said those signatures exceeded the city's requirement of at least 20,000 signatures for each of the three proposed amendments.
The city secretary certified HERO's petitions.
HERO said its three proposed amendments would:
- Increase the total number of Dallas police officers and guarantee that the starting salary of Dallas Police Department officers is on par with the top five of all major city police departments in North Texas.
- It also calls for a portion of annual excess revenue to be allocated to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
- Subject the city manager to a performance-based pay
- Allow citizens to sue government officials who don't follow the law
In August, the Dallas City Council held several meetings to discuss a special election on proposed amendments, court documents state.
Several council members did not approve of HERO's proposed amendments, the Supreme Court documents state, and moved to include three additional proposed amendments.
The council's proposed amendments gave the council the final say in all city funds and would ensure the city's government immunity and prevent residents from filing suit, according to the court's ruling.
HERO and a Dallas resident who signed petitions to get the HERO proposals on the ballot filed suit to block the council's proposed charter amendments. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus letter against the city council's actions in Aug.
"I filed a letter in support of this citizen group's lawsuit because government entities cannot plant confusing counter propositions on the ballot to mislead voters simply because the officials hope to see certain measures fail," Paxton said.
On Sept. 11, the Texas Supreme Court issued its ruling and directed the council not to include its propositions on the Nov. ballot.