Killeen, TX Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 22-80, adopted by city ordinance on November 8, 2022, tells Killeen police officers not to issue citations or make arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession, the two lowest-level marijuana charges under state law. The ordinance carves out exactly two circumstances where an officer can still act: when the citation or arrest is part of a felony-level narcotics investigation that a Killeen police commander, assistant chief, or the chief of police has designated a high priority, or when it is part of a violent felony investigation. Outside those two situations, if an officer develops probable cause that a substance is marijuana, the officer may seize it, but must write a detailed report and release the person if the marijuana possession is the only charge being considered.

The ordinance goes further than declining to arrest: Section 22-81 bars issuing a Class C citation for drug residue or paraphernalia in place of a marijuana possession charge, closing an obvious workaround, and Section 22-82 prohibits using city funds or personnel to run THC concentration testing to determine whether a substance meets the legal definition of marijuana, again except within the same high-priority felony or violent-felony investigations. Section 22-84 requires the city manager and police chief to train officers on the ordinance and to hold regular public meetings with community stakeholders, including the police chief's advisory panel and immigrant and minority community groups, to track how the policy is carried out, and Section 22-86 requires an implementation report to the city council within three months of adoption and annually after that.