Legislators push Wichita council to remove marijuana question from ballot

Two state representatives are urging the Wichita City Council to remove the marijuana question from the April 7 ballot before the Friday deadline to print ballots.

But City Council members say it’s unlikely they will call an emergency meeting to vote again on the issue.

Representatives Steve Brunk and Mark Kahrs, both Republicans from Wichita, said in a letter to city officials: “It is clear on numerous levels that the petition request for public vote violates statutes and procedures.”

The petition initiative aims to reduce the penalties for first-time possession of marijuana from a misdemeanor with up to a $2,500 fine and jail time to an infraction with a $50 fine for those 21 and older.

The letter from the lawmakers comes after Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued an opinion and told city officials that the marijuana ballot question “may not lawfully be adopted” and should not be presented to voters.

Schmidt wrote in a letter that the proposal would “conflict with uniform state law in numerous ways and would be void,” and that the city has no legal authority to adopt an ordinance that conflicts with state law or to change state law.

If it passes, Schmidt’s office will file a lawsuit – presumably against the city – to enforce state law, he wrote in a letter.

“At the end of the day, these are all only opinions and don’t mean anything until it actually goes to court,” said City Council member Jeff Blubaugh.

Blubaugh emphasized that if voters approve the measure, the council would still have to take action to change the city ordinance.

On Monday, Mayor Carl Brewer said he didn’t think the council has time to change its decision to put the issue on the ballot. The council did not meet Tuesday since three members are in Washington, D.C., for the National League of Cities conference.

The Election Office begins mailing advance ballots to voters next week.

The Wichita City Council voted 6-1 in January to put the measure on the ballot after backers presented a petition with thousands of signatures supporting it. Council members could have adopted the change outright, done nothing or put it on the ballot. Council member Pete Meitzner voted no.

“We’re in a catch-22: Either we’re violating the petition statute or we’re violating the state law and federal law,” said Blubaugh, who thinks the issue will have to ultimately be taken up by the courts or state Legislature to be resolved.

“The city is put in an awkward position because of Kansas law. Kansas has conflicting laws and we’re paying the price for it,” he said.

Several council members have made it clear they do not want to incur legal fees or fight the state over the marijuana issue.

“I’m not aware of any City Council members that want to fight with the state on enacting city ordinance if it were to pass,” said council member Janet Miller. “I think the council is still in agreement it took the appropriate action based on our undestanding of the state statute.”

It wasn’t the first time supporters tried to get a marijuana issue on the city ballot.

Last August, petitioners fell 36 signatures short of the 2,928 needed to put a measure decriminalizing pot on the November ballot. After that, the City Council directed city legal staff to help the petitioners redraft the ballot language.

“We considered all of these issues when we (initially) determined what steps we wanted to take,” said City Council member James Clendenin.

“But we recognize and realize there were enough residents concerned about this issue to sign a ballot petition in a process laid out by state law. … We wanted to respect the voice of the citizens of Wichita. When this goes to a vote, we’ll see what happens.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Legislators push Wichita council to remove marijuana question from ballot."