A proposed filing by Stuart Campbell, member of the Charter Review Commission representing District 7, would amend the Dallas City Charter to allow residents who aren’t U.S. citizens to be appointed to all City boards, commissions, and task forces.
Campbell’s suggested amendment would change the language in “each section relating to eligibility for appointees all Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces away from ‘citizen,’ to ‘residents,’ ‘people,’ or ‘persons,’” per the report.
“Similar to CM Moreno’s Amendment and Amendment 66 (which we’ve already approved), this is to allow the non-citizens [sic] residents of Dallas to serve as appointees on Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces,” states the report.
This is not the first time the CRC has debated the proposed amendment, KERA reported.
“… [T]o deprive someone the right to serve their community on a board or commission but also to demand they pay taxes is just absurd, injustice and illogical,” Campbell said during a CRC meeting in February, per KERA.
Currently, in addition to using “citizen” in defining eligibility requirements, the City Charter also uses “registered voters” and “voters.” The word “citizen” is found 10 times in the City Charter. “Registered” is found seven times; “registered voters” is found twice, and “voters” is found 29 times.
According to a review of the City Charter by The Dallas Express, revising the language in the document would impact sections governing appointments to the Redistricting Commission, City Plan and Zoning Commission, Park and Recreation Board, and Civil Service Board.
Redistricting Commission
The Charter requires that this entity appoint persons who “must be registered to vote and meet the qualifications for service on a city commission.”
Zoning Commission
Dallas City Council members must appoint 15 “qualified voters of the City of Dallas” to this body.
“The members shall possess the same qualifications and be subject to the same disqualifications as provided by the Charter for members of the city council, or general laws of the State of Texas.”
Park and Recreation Board
For representatives of this body, council members must appoint “a number of qualified voters of the city equal to the number of members on the city council who shall constitute the park and recreation board of the city. The members shall possess the same qualifications and be subject to the same disqualifications as provided by the Charter for members of the city council, or by general laws of the State of Texas, and shall serve without compensation.”
Civil Service Board
Seven “qualified taxpaying citizens of the City of Dallas and a number of adjunct members equal to the number of members on the city council” who have “qualifications established by the city council” must be appointed to this board.
According to KERA, Campbell said during the meeting in February that his proposal “has nothing to do with what’s going on in [Washington D.C.]. “It has nothing to do with what’s going on at the border right now. But it has everything to do with I think the way people should be treated fairly, justly and with morality if they’re residents of the city of Dallas.”
Another vote on the proposed amendment was scheduled for March 4, but it was tabled, along with other agenda items, in the interest of time. The CRC’s next meeting is set for March 26.
Discourse over non-citizens’ participation in government has been at the forefront of the national conversation of late. For instance, the U.S. Senate shot down a bill last week that would have prevented non-U.S. citizens from being counted when determining the number of House seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Though she was referencing the issue on a national scale, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, asserted that debate that ensuring non-citizens are not allowed to influence votes is “critical in making sure that American citizens … are picking America’s leaders.”
