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The Minnesota\u2019s Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday blocked Democrats\u2019 move to advance a marijuana legalization bill that\u2019s been stalled in committee.<\/p>\n
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melisa L\u00f3pez Franzen (D) announced her plans to bring the issue up for consideration on the chamber floor through a procedural mechanism that would have required a supermajority of 41 votes to advance. As was expected, the motion failed to reach that threshold in the GOP-run body.<\/p>\n
The process L\u00f3pez Franzen sought to use is called recall from committee. The Senate legalization bill<\/a> was referred to committee in February 2021, but it did not advance. Democrats sought to leverage that process to skip committee consideration and bring it straight to the floor for consideration.<\/p>\n The majority of Minnesotans support legalizing cannabis, and I\u2019m one of them. Legalization will benefit our state \u2014 not just economically, but also in reducing racial disparities in our criminal justice system. #mnleg<\/a> \u2014 Melisa L\u00f3pez Franzen (@MelisaFranzen) May 17, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cWe all know that legalization would have economic benefits, but there\u2019s other urgent aspects of my legislation,\u201d L\u00f3pez Franzen said. \u201cWith all the discussion about public safety this year, we also need to address disparities in the criminal justice system around cannabis that disproportionately impact communities of color. That\u2019s why I\u2019m asking to make this urgent motion to bring my bill to the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMinnesotans want to have this discussion and conversation about legalization of cannabis,\u201d she said. \u201cThey broadly support moving ahead with this legislation. They expect us to debate the merits of this proposal and not block the conversation from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n But the motion was defeated in a 31-33 vote. A House companion version did pass the full chamber last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the benefits of legalization in the states where it\u2019s move forward, and we should join them not just for the economic benefits but also to address disparities in our criminal justice system that have a disproportionate impact of Minnesotans of color,\u201d L\u00f3pez Franzen said in a video previewing the plan on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Sen. Ingebrigsten insists the issue of legalizing recreational cannabis is not urgent.<\/p>\n There are Minnesotans still serving time for cannabis-related charges who should be with their families, raising their children, and living their lives. Addressing this is absolutely urgent. pic.twitter.com\/wtumzCNitt<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Minnesota Senate DFL (@SenateDFL) May 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cThe people of Minnesota want to have a conversation about legalizing cannabis,\u201d the minority leader said. \u201cMinnesotans today broadly support moving forward with the legalization of cannabis, and at the very least they expect their elected officials to debate the merits of this proposal, not block the conversation from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Leader Lopez Franzen @MelisaFranzen<\/a> is right. The debate over legalizing cannabis is overdue, blocked by a senate majority out of touch with Minnesotans. It\u2019s time. #LegalizeIt<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/dE74sHmtnc<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Erin Murphy (@epmurphymn) May 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Senate Democrats similarly attempted<\/a> to use the procedural rule to force a vote on abortion and women\u2019s rights earlier this month, without success.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past two years, I\u2019ve been requesting hearings from members in the majority party multiple times only to have them all rejected,\u201d L\u00f3pez Franzen said in a press conference after Wednesday\u2019s cannabis vote. \u201cAnd today I tried to get the majority party to agree that time is urgent to move this conversation about legalization of cannabis to the Senate floor.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in January, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) and L\u00f3pez Franzen discussed their plans to advance the cannabis reform<\/a> this session.<\/p>\n \u2014 Winkler said at the time that his bill, which moved through 12 committees before being approved on the House floor last year<\/a>, is the \u201cproduct of hundreds of hours of work involving thousands of people\u2019s input, countless hearings and public listening sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Gov. Tim Walz (D) is supportive of marijuana legalization<\/a>, and he included funding to implement the reform in his annual budget request to lawmakers in January.<\/p>\n While he declined to propose putting dollars toward implementation<\/a> in his prior budget request, he said this year that he wants funding for multiple programs and departments to launch an adult-use marijuana market in line with the House-passed bill.<\/p>\n Minnesotans are ready to legalize cannabis and Senate Republicans won’t even engage in debate on the subject. It’s time for Republican obstruction on this conversation to end and for them to finally listen to the voices of Minnesotans. #LegalizeIt<\/a> #mnleg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Minnesota Senate DFL (@SenateDFL) May 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Previously, in 2019, the governor\u00a0directed state agencies to prepare to implement reform<\/a>\u00a0in anticipation of legalization eventually passing.<\/p>\n While legalization wasn\u2019t ultimately enacted following the House\u2019s passage of the bill last year, the governor did sign a bill to expand the state\u2019s medical marijuana program<\/a>, in part by allowing patients to access smokable cannabis products.<\/p>\n A poll conducted by Minnesota lawmakers that was released last year found that\u00a058 percent of residents are in favor of legalization<\/a>. That\u2019s a modest increase\u00a0compared to the chamber\u2019s 2019 survey<\/a>, which showed 56 percent support.<\/p>\n The House majority leader said in 2020 that if Senate Republicans don\u2019t go along with the policy change legislatively, he hopes they will\u00a0at least let voters decide on cannabis<\/a> as a 2022 ballot measure, but it does not seem that will happen this year.<\/p>\n State Marijuana Regulators Say Banking Fix Will Make Their Jobs Easier In Addition To Helping Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Minnesota Republican Senators Block Marijuana Legalization Vote<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Minnesota\u2019s Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday blocked Democrats\u2019 move to advance a marijuana legalization bill that\u2019s been stalled in committee. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melisa L\u00f3pez Franzen (D) announced her plans to bring the issue up for consideration on the chamber floor through a procedural mechanism that would have requiredContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":54777,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54776"}],"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=54776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54778,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54776\/revisions\/54778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Minnesota Republican Senators Block Marijuana Legalization Vote<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"