Dallas City Council Violates Texas Constitution In Attempts To Secretly Derail Police Funding, New Lawsuit Says

An advocacy group is suing Dallas’ city council after they entered a trio of last-minute amendments to the city’s charter, violating the Texas state constitution, according to a Thursday lawsuit obtained by the Daily Caller.

The council stealthily entered three charter amendments to counter amendments the advocacy group Dallas HERO introduced in June, according to the lawsuit.

HERO’s amendments, which the city’s residents will vote on in November, seek to increase funding for police and fire departments, recruit more police officers, establish performance standards as a means of additional compensation for the City Manager and allow citizens to bring legal action against the city.

The group submitted a petition with over 169,000 signatures from Dallas residents in order to get the amendments on the ballot.

HERO negotiated with Dallas‘ city attorney on the language of the amendments. The city council, however, submitted a trio of last-minute amendments that would give the council “total authority” over the city’s budget and reduce the city’s Charter amendments to mere suggestions, a source within the Dallas HERO organization told the Daily Caller.

The purpose of the amendments as to “confuse and mislead voters about the issues raised by the Dallas HERO propositions,” the lawsuit alleges.

The council’s amendments violate the state constitution’s one-subject rule, as well as breaking a good faith agreement between the city and HERO, according to the lawsuit. (RELATED: Walz’s Administration Paid Pro-Defund The Police Group To Promote His Labor Policies)

“Put simply the City’s last-minute addition of ballot language is nothing more than a desperate attempt to mask their misleading language in a separate ballot proposition which only leads to one result, which is to mislead and disenfranchise the voters of the City of Dallas,” the lawsuit reads.

The policing amendments are an attempt to curb a growing public safety crisis in the city, the lawsuit says.

Don’t forget those personal texts from your cop-hater handlers, @AdamBazaldua @VoteOmarNarvaez pic.twitter.com/wC8oNXWnh0

— DallasHero (@dallas_hero_) August 21, 2024

“This case is about the right of Texans to direct popular participation in lawmaking,” the lawsuit reads.

“This case is also about the right of Texans to vote on citizen-placed city charter amendments without governmental actors manipulating their ballots in ways designed to mislead and cause confusion,” the lawsuit says.

HERO’s lawyers filed the case in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday. Lawyers filed it concurrently with an identical case in the Supreme Court of Texas.