Dallas committee reclassifies items on state legislative program, removes ranked-choice proposal

The Dallas Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs voted Jan. 15 to reclassify several items on the city's state legislative program, remove ranked-choice voting from the list and seek formal legal clarity on card rooms and related gambling activity.

Committee chair DeBaez said the changes reflect a strategic prioritization of items for staff and the council. "Every single item on our legislative program is important," the chair said. "They're all our priorities." She described the appendix as a way to divide priorities into four categories: pursue, support, monitor and oppose.

Jake Anderson, interim director of the Office of Government Affairs, briefed the committee on the four categories and how staff will engage differently depending on classification. "There was a memo that went out this morning," Anderson said, "Those categories are pursue, support, monitor, and oppose. These are the categories, under which everything in the agenda fall." He said "pursue" items are those on which the city will actively draft legislation and secure authors; "support" items are those the city will endorse and actively engage on; and "monitor" items will be tracked and the city will engage as bills progress.

Key votes and moves

- Amend local government election dates: The committee agreed to separate this item from ranked-choice voting and to keep the item to allow the city to change its local election date…