City of Houston · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
The Houston Freedom Act
Appears on your ballot as: Houston city charter amendment
Vote FOR
A city charter amendment that would require the Houston Police Department to make enforcement of Class A and Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession its lowest possible priority. The same measure would also bar the Houston Police Department from carrying out no-knock warrants.
What's actually happening
Houston City Council voted on August 12, 2026 to place the measure on the November 3 ballot, after Ground Game Texas submitted roughly 40,000 petition signatures against a 20,000-signature requirement. This does not legalize anything. Possession stays illegal under state law, and a city charter cannot override the Penal Code. What it changes is where Houston police spend their time.
Why it matters
Texas has no statewide ballot initiative. City measures like this one are the only cannabis question a Texan votes on directly. Austin, Dallas, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen, San Marcos, Bastrop and Lockhart have all passed similar measures. Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to block several, and so far the state has won: appeals courts struck down the Austin and San Marcos measures, and the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear either city's appeal — San Marcos in September 2025, Austin on December 19, 2025.
The Attorney General race on the same ballot decides who litigates against measures like this one.
What a yes vote does not do
Passing is not the end of it, and recent history is discouraging. Dallas voters approved a similar measure in 2024 by roughly two to one, and the city later agreed to pause enforcement of it amid litigation. Austin's and San Marcos's measures were struck down outright, with the Texas Supreme Court declining to take up either. A yes vote is a real instruction to city government. It is not self-enforcing, and the courts have not been kind to it.