The vote would be in November 2015.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Houston City Council to repeal an LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance it passed in 2014 or put a referendum opponents had sought on this November's ballot.
In the Friday decision, the court gave Houston officials a month to decide what to do, ordering a decision be made by Aug. 24.
After the "HERO" LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance was passed by Houston City Council, a group sought a referendum effort. If enough signatures were gathered, as certified by the city secretary, then City Council would have the option to repeal the ordinance or put it on the ballot.
After a review of the signatures submitted, the city secretary asserted that sufficient signatures were gathered but also noted that the city attorney found that many pages of the petitions were invalid — meaning that any signatures on those pages would be invalid. Accordingly, Houston City Council found that there were insufficient valid signatures to force reconsideration of the ordinance or a vote.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday, however, with no oral arguments having been held in the case, found that the city secretary's statements served as certification that sufficient valid signatures were gathered — the city attorney's findings notwithstanding. As such, the court ruled, City Council could not reject the petitions and had to do one of two things: repeal the ordinance or put it on the ballot.
"Once the City Council received the City Secretary's certification, it had a ministerial duty to act," the court stated. "If the City Council does not repeal the ordinance by August 24, 2015, then by that date the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election."
The court also put enforcement of the ordinance on hold in the meantime.
Read the decision:
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1em5y2N
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