TODAY: What we’re tracking at Austin City Council

The Austin City Council will convene Thursday for their first regular meeting of the year, and it’s going to be a busy one.

Among the issues sparking debate on social media include a resolution from Council Member Greg Casar that seeks to cut arrests and citations for low-level marijuana offenses in Austin. The resolution directs city leadership to refrain from spending any money on new testing technology that could determine the concentration of THC in marijuana, and asks Austin police to stop arresting and citing people for marijuana possession as much as they can under state law.

The Texas Legislature last year legalized the production of hemp, which can contain up to 0.3% THC, the intoxicating agent in marijuana. With that change, law enforcement agencies inadvertently were required to test the amount of THC in marijuana for each possession case they pursued. Only a few labs in the state are capable of such testing, and many district and county attorneys announced plans to stop prosecuting such cases, saying the testing would be too burdensome or expensive.

Another measure calls for as much as $100,000 in funding for legal fees related to civil action against the Permian Highway Pipeline, which would pump natural gas from West Texas to the Houston area, through the Hill Country along the way. City staff say they don’t have enough information from pipeline developer Kinder Morgan to fully understand what the environmental impacts on Austin’s water could be.

The council also will consider a $1 million contract for a study examining disparities in contracting for minority- and women-owned business, and another study looking at ways to improve the health of Austin waterways, with a particular focus on illegal dumping of electric scooters.

For most of 2019, the Council’s collective gaze was fixed on issues surrounding homelessness. That trend will continue on Thursday as members consider a handful of budget amendments to pump more than $600,000 into homeless services providers to expand the Guided Path program that began as a pilot last year. The program aims to take an individualized approach to people who are homelessness, targeting specific people with specialized care to get them into permanent housing.

To see the outcome of Thursday’s votes visit the Statemsan’s VoteTracker website.