A top Connecticut lawmaker said on Tuesday that the legislature is aiming to wrap up negotiations with the governor\u2019s office on a bill to legalize marijuana by the week\u2019s end and then take it up in the Senate \u201cearly next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gov. Ned Lamont (D) also said on Monday that there\u2019s consensus on a wide range of important issues in the reform legislation, but some details still need to be sorted out. Time is running out in the session, however, and the governor said he\u2019s not necessarily interested in taking the issue up in a special session.<\/p>\n
To that end, negotiators will meet again<\/a> on Tuesday, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D) said during a briefing.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel good about us coming to an agreement before the end of this week,\u201d he said. \u201cWe met again last night and we\u2019re going to meet again today and continue chipping away at some of the details. I think some of the larger issues, there is pretty broad consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n He made similar remarks during an earlier briefing on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some individual members within our caucus that we\u2019d like to consult on those higher issues on,\u201d Rojas said. But the plan is to \u201cfinalize them and get ready to move forward and begin presenting it to the respective caucuses, doing a vote count and, hopefully, beginning in at least one chamber, in the Senate, we expect acting on it sometime next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the discussion about a marijuana legalization deal, starting at 7:05 into the video below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n House Speaker Matt Ritter (D) added that his optimism about the prospects of passing the bill has increased based on conversations he\u2019s had with colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve sort of been struck by just having conversations as words gets out that the majority leader\u2019s working group is making progress with the governor\u2019s office\u2014and I\u2019m struck by the number of people who I thought were noes previously, or maybe who are kind of getting there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ritter said that he now feels there\u2019s a 57-43 chance that the legislation is approved, whereas he previously gave it a 50-50 chance<\/a>.<\/p>\n Negotiations with the governor\u2019s office have largely centered on social equity of late, and Rojas said the policy is about \u201censuring that entrance of the marketplace is able to be accessed by communities and individuals who live in the communities who have been most impacted by the war on drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen what happens in other states and how successful and lucrative it can be, and we want to ensure that there\u2019s a broad diversity of individuals who are able to enter that marketplace, start a business, create their own wealth and benefit from what will be a new marketplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the governor on Monday said he and legislative leaders are having \u201cgood, strong negotiations,\u201d and there\u2019s \u201cbroad agreement\u201d on policies concerning public health and safety. There\u2019s \u201cgrowing agreement\u201d with respect to using marijuana tax revenue to reinvest in communities disproportionately harmed by prohibition.<\/p>\n Watch the governor discuss the marijuana legalization negotiations, starting at 40:25 in the video below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Lamont\u2019s chief of staff said ,\u201dI know that there\u2019s going to be a time crunch\u2014and we have been speaking to the legislative leaders about that\u2014but we\u2019re getting closer to a bill that is acceptable to the governor and to the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n But with respect to that time crunch, the governor said on Tuesday that he doesn\u2019t want to rush the process and that calling a special session might not be the best way to approach this issue.<\/p>\n Legislative leaders would also like to avoid a special session, and that could be accomplished if they manage to quickly advance a finalized bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the governor would prefer avoid a special session, so would we,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cI think our goal is to get this done before we adjourn on June 9, and that\u2019s that\u2019s the goal we\u2019re working towards. I\u2019m not looking at special session yet, I\u2019m focused on today and then tomorrow and before June 9.\u201d<\/p>\n DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel at the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment that it\u2019s not just politically inconvenient to push the legislation to a special session\u2014it would have a real-life impact on people who would continue to be criminalized over cannabis in the interim.<\/p>\n \u201cA special session wouldn\u2019t be ideal, in my opinion, because in the meantime thousands of Connecticut residents will continue to be arrested and have their lives upended over cannabis and the state\u2019s market would lag behind others in the region costing Connecticut and its towns millions in revenue that could be used in a post-covid economic recovery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A bill to legalize marijuana for adult use that Lamont proposed as part of his budget\u00a0cleared the Judiciary Committee last month<\/a> after being amended by the panel. But if a legalization measure isn\u2019t enacted this year, the governor said earlier this month that the issue could ultimately go before voters.<\/p>\n \u201cMarijuana is sort of interesting to me. When it goes to a vote of the people through some sort of a referendum, it passes overwhelmingly. When it goes through a legislature and a lot of telephone calls are made, it\u2019s slim or doesn\u2019t pass,\u201d the governor said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do it through the legislature. Folks are elected to make a decision, and we\u2019ll see where it goes. If it doesn\u2019t, we\u2019ll probably end up in a referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n Ritter similarly said last year that if the legislature isn\u2019t able to pass a legalization bill, he will move to put\u00a0a question on the state\u2019s 2022 ballot that would leave the matter to voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to recent polling, if legalization did go before voters, it would pass.<\/p>\n Sixty-four percent of residents in the state favor legalizing cannabis for adult use, a survey from Sacred Heart University that was released last week found.<\/p>\n A competing legalization measure from Rep. Robyn Porter (D), which is favored by many legalization advocates for its focus on social equity, was\u00a0approved in the Labor and Public Employees Committee<\/a>\u00a0in March.<\/p>\n Lamont, who convened an informal work group in recent months to\u00a0make recommendations on the policy change<\/a>, initially described his legalization plan as a \u201ccomprehensive framework for the cultivation, manufacture, sale, possession, use, and taxation of cannabis that prioritizes public health, public safety, and social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n But while advocates have strongly criticized the governor\u2019s plan as inadequate when it comes to equity provisions, Ritter said in March that\u00a0\u201coptimism abounds\u201d as lawmakers work to merge proposals<\/a>\u00a0into a final legalization bill.<\/p>\n Rojas also said that \u201cin principle, equity is important to both the administration and the legislature, and we\u2019re going to work through those details.\u201d<\/p>\n To that end, the majority leader said that working groups have been formed in the Democratic caucuses of the legislature to go through the governor\u2019s proposal and the committee-approved reform bill.<\/p>\n In February, a Lamont administration official stressed during a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee that Lamont\u2019s proposal it is \u201cnot a final bill,\u201d and\u00a0they want activists \u201cat the table\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to further inform the legislation.<\/p>\n The legislature has considered legalization proposals on several occasions in recent years, including a bill that Democrats\u00a0introduced last year on the governor\u2019s behalf<\/a>. Those bills stalled, however.<\/p>\n Lamont\u00a0reiterated his support for legalizing marijuana<\/a>\u00a0during his annual State of the State address in January, stating that he would be working with the legislature to advance the reform this session.<\/p>\n The governor has compared the\u00a0need for regional coordination on marijuana policy<\/a>\u00a0to the coronavirus response, stating that officials have \u201cgot to think regionally when it comes to how we deal with the pandemic\u2014and I think we have to think regionally when it comes to marijuana, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that legalization in Connecticut could\u00a0potentially reduce the spread of COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0by limiting out-of-state trips to purchase legal cannabis in neighboring states such as Massachusetts and New Jersey.<\/p>\n Louisiana Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Advances To Senate Floor, One Step From Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Connecticut Marijuana Legalization Bill Could Go Before Senate Next Week, Top Lawmaker Says<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A top Connecticut lawmaker said on Tuesday that the legislature is aiming to wrap up negotiations with the governor\u2019s office on a bill to legalize marijuana by the week\u2019s end and then take it up in the Senate \u201cearly next week.\u201d Gov. Ned Lamont (D) also said on Monday thatContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47861,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47860\/revisions\/47861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Connecticut Marijuana Legalization Bill Could Go Before Senate Next Week, Top Lawmaker Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"