Texas AG Ken Paxton files brief supporting legal challenge of Dallas charter amendments

Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief with the state Supreme Court on Friday supporting a group behind a trio of Dallas charter amendment propositions several City Council members openly opposed.
If approved, the Dallas Hero proposals would mandate the city hire nearly 1,000 officers, waive governmental immunity for city officials and tie the city manager’s evaluation to a community survey. The City Council approved its own charter amendments to counteract three pushed by Dallas Hero, a nonprofit organization.
Paxton said the city’s actions contradicted “precedent designed to protect the integrity of a ballot-initiative election.”
In an amicus brief, Paxton contends the city didn’t make clear that an opposing slate of three propositions introduced by council members would cancel out the Dallas Hero proposals.
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“It is hard to reconcile the ultimate result with this court’s longstanding rule that ballot language should be written in a way to ‘identify the amendment and to show its character and purposes, so that the voters will be familiar with the amendment and its purposes when they cast their ballots,” the brief said. “Texas is aware of nothing in the proposed ballot language to inform voters that by voting for the city-proposed amendments, they necessarily render ineffective Dallas Hero’s propositions.”
Dallas Hero has cited the amendments as necessary tools to improve safety and hold government officials accountable, but city leaders largely panned the ideas as detrimental to nearly all city services and fiscally irresponsible. Still, the proposals received the mandatory minimum of at least 20,000 voter signatures to qualify for the November election ballot.
An amicus brief is a legal document typically filed by parties not directly involved but who have an interest in a case to give judges information they deem relevant to the dispute.
It comes a week after a voter who supported the Dallas Hero initiative sued the city and most of the City Council, arguing the elected officials violated the Constitution by approving additional proposed charter changes that could override the Dallas Hero amendments if approved by voters on Nov. 5.
Cathy Cortina Arvizu and Dallas Hero also filed complaints with the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas and the Texas Supreme Court seeking judges’ orders to try to block the city charter amendment ballots from printing as-is.
Several City Council members and other officials, such as interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, have cautioned against the trio of proposals, saying every city department would likely see drastic cuts and lower police training standards to quickly accommodate that number of cops, pave the way for the city to be inundated with lawsuits that taxpayer money would be used to fight, and likely shrink the candidate pool for a new city manager.
Several council members said they would personally vote down the Dallas Hero proposals and encourage others to do the same.
On the same day they finalized the charter update proposals for voters, council members introduced and approved three additional amendments that would give the City Council the sole authority on spending city funds, ensure the council has the final say on the city manager’s employment and negate any initiative to waive governmental immunity.
The six propositions are among nearly two dozen proposals on the November ballot to update Dallas’ charter, which defines its powers, functions and structure. The city typically reviews the charter once every 10 years, and any change requires voter approval.
Other propositions include raises for the Dallas City Council and banning police officers from arresting or citing people accused of carrying four ounces or less of marijuana.
Early voting runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. Election Day is on Nov. 5.