Next steps for Sanctuary City for the Unborn petition to be taken at next city council meeting

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — It has been over six months since the Amarillo City Council received a petitioned ordinance to designate Amarillo as a Sanctuary City for the Unborn.

Now, the petition initiating committee has filed a certificate to the City Secretary certifying their desire to have the ordinance on the November ballot following the city council’s rejection of the amended petition at the last city council meeting.

“What you’re seeing is something that is going to the ballot because we couldn’t rightly define our jurisdiction, so this went outside of that in the fullness of the original ordinance. And I think we agree on that,” said Mayor Cole Stanley. “But then I think that’s why this is being taken to the voter. I don’t think it’s being taken to the voter because the substance or the cause wasn’t something that we understood or could take action on. I think it’s the format, in the way in which it’s seeking to prohibit certain things outside of our city limits.”

The statement will be presented to the City Council on July 9 during the council’s regular meeting.

“We will present this statement to council at our next regular July 9 council meeting, and so at that point in time, we’ll present it to council, talk to council about it, and then anticipate bringing back a resolution probably on July 23 to order that election for November,” said Stephanie Coggins, Amarillo City Secretary.

Officials said that once the petitioned ordinance is on the ballot it is out of the council’s hand.

“Once the election takes place on Nov. 5 and the counties certify their results back to us, we will canvass that election, and at that point in time, if the election passes, then Council will approve that ordinance into law and adopt it, and if it fails, then we will canvass the election and nothing else will happen,” said Coggins.

The ordinance expected to be on the ballot is the petitioning committees initial ordinance that the council suggested making amendments to.

“It was very much going all the way back to where you saw a start, back in December, with trying to regulate are your for 86, and so do we want to take a felony at the state and make it a misdemeanor. I know that we didn’t want to do that,” said Stanley.

Moving forward, Stanley is encouraging everyone to educated themselves on the ordinance.

“Let the public educate the public. Let everybody have their say as it moves forward, and then we will all be eagerly waiting to see what the result will be on Nov. 5,” said Stanley.

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