AUSTIN, Texas — Austin voters will now get to decide on a police oversight act in May 2023.
The Austin City Council ordered a special election to decide whether the City should enact the "Austin Police Oversight Act." The act aims to strengthen oversight for the Austin Police Department and strengthen accountability and transparency.
The Council took the step after a local political action group, Equity Action, gathered 33,000 signatures in support of the act. Last week, the group reported that the Austin City Clerk had validated more than 20,000 of the signatures, meeting the threshold necessary to get the measure on a ballot.
After the certification threshold was met and the council was notified, it had 10 days to meet and either vote on the proposal or put it on the May 2023 ballot for local voters to decide.
Equity Action had aimed to get the measure on the November 2022 ballot, but the group did not deliver the signatures to the city clerk with enough time to have the signatures validated and a council meeting scheduled on the matter.
According to a draft ordinance, the proposition will ask:
"Shall the voters of Austin adopt an initiated ordinance that will deter police misconduct and brutality by strengthening the City's system of independent and transparent civilian police oversight?"
Voters will be able to respond "Yes" or "No." The election has been set for May 6, 2023.
If approved, the City Code chapter on police oversight will be amended. The full changes made if approved can be found here.
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