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A second Delaware Senate committee approved a House-passed bill on Thursday to create a regulated adult-use marijuana market, sending it to the floor where a complementary measure to legalize possession is also set for action.<\/p>\n
The proposals are being sponsored by Rep. Ed Osienski (D), and they both advanced through a separate Senate committee on Wednesday after being approved in the full House.<\/p>\n
Now the Senate Finance Committee has also cleared the regulations-focused bill, which needed a second stop because of its fiscal provisions.<\/p>\n
Sen. Trey Paradee (D), chair of the panel, is carrying the legislation in the Senate.<\/p>\n
He said during Wednesday\u2019s earlier hearing in the Senate Health & Social Services Committee that the state\u2019s existing law that merely decriminalizes low-level cannabis possession is inadequate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arrests have continued and, as a result, lives have been turned upside down,\u201d he said. \u201cAlthough the civil offense is not as harmful as an arrest, the citations cannot be expunged and still appear in public record searches. This gap has caused a number of Delawareans to miss out on life-changing job opportunities due to the appearance of citations on background checks.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that ongoing enforcement falls disproportionately on people of color, adding that Delaware is increasingly \u201can island of prohibition\u201d as neighboring states move to enact cannabis reforms.<\/p>\n
Osienski, the House sponsor, took a similar, bifurcated approach for the reform last session and saw the legislature pass the basic legalization proposal while narrowly defeating the regulatory measure. Gov. John Carney (D) vetoed the former legislation<\/a>, and\u00a0the House didn\u2019t have to votes for an override<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 The sponsor recently told 47 ABC News that if the governor seeks to veto the legislation again this time, he\u2019s \u201coptimistic\u201d and feels \u201cpretty good\u201d that they have the votes for an override.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my colleagues are saying, \u2018OK, you know, you had one shot at vetoing this, you did and you were successful, but don\u2019t count on us supporting that veto again,\u2019\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both the simple legalization bill and the sales regulation measure cleared the House this month with more than enough votes to override any potential veto.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what the\u00a0HB 1<\/a>\u00a0legalization bill would accomplish:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n State statute would be revised to legalize the possession, use, sharing and purchasing of up to one ounce of cannabis for adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n To avoid abuses of the \u201cgifting\u201d provision, the bill stipulates that \u201cadult sharing\u201d would not include giving away cannabis \u201ccontemporaneously with another reciprocal transaction between the same parties\u201d such as an exchange of a non-marijuana item.<\/p>\n Public consumption and growing cannabis would remain prohibited.<\/p>\n People under 21 who engage in such activity would be subject to a civil penalty of up to $100 for a first offense. Police could use discretion and issue a citation in lieu of that fine, however.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s an overview of the key provisions of the\u00a0HB 2<\/a>\u00a0regulatory bill:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The legislation would provide a basic framework to create a regulated system of cannabis commerce for adults in the state.<\/p>\n The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE) would be responsible for regulating the market through a new Office of Marijuana Control Commissioner.<\/p>\n For the first 16 months of implementation, regulators could approve up to 30 cannabis retail licenses.<\/p>\n Applicants who show that they\u2019d provide a living wage, health insurance coverage, sick and paid leave and focus on diversity in hiring would be prioritized in the licensing scoring process.<\/p>\n Seven percent of marijuana business fee revenue would go to a \u201cJustice Reinvestment Fund\u201d that supports restorative justice, workforce development, technical assistance for economically disadvantaged people and more.<\/p>\n That fund would also go toward \u201ccreating or developing technology to assist with the restoration of civil rights and expungement of criminal records.\u201d However, the legislation itself doesn\u2019t provide for automatic expungements.<\/p>\n In additional to conventional retail, cultivator, manufacturer and laboratory licenses, the bill would additional provide for social equity and microbusiness licenses (reserved for applicants with majority ownership by Delaware residents).<\/p>\n Localities would be able to prohibit marijuana businesses from operating in their area through ordinance.<\/p>\n Adult-use marijuana sales would be subject to a 15 percent sales tax. Medical cannabis products would not be taxed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Advocates are increasingly optimistic about the legislation\u2019s prospects given that last year\u2019s election added more progressive lawmakers to the legislature. Regional developments, with surrounding states enacting legalization, are also putting pressure on Delaware lawmakers.<\/p>\n Because the regulatory bill includes tax components, it requires a three-fifths majority of lawmakers to approve it. The basic legalization measure only needs a simple majority.<\/p>\n Osienski made the calculated decision to break up the measures in the previous session after an earlier proposal that included both components\u00a0was rejected in the House<\/a>\u00a0because it failed to reach the three-fifths vote requirement.<\/p>\n Shortly after the House passed the latest versions of the legalization measures last week, the Senate approved a resolution that urges the state\u2019s congressional representatives to\u00a0support legislation to end federal cannabis prohibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, in October, Carney\u00a0vetoed a more narrowly tailored bill<\/a>\u00a0that would have clarified that medical marijuana patients are not prohibited from buying, possessing or transferring firearms under state law<\/p>\n A strong majority of Delaware voters support legalizing marijuana\u2014including nearly three in four Democrats who back the reform that the state\u2019s Democratic governor vetoed last year,\u00a0according to a poll released that month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kansas Senators Shelve Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill After Hearing From Law Enforcement Opponents<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Delaware Senators Send House-Passed Marijuana Sales Bill To The Floor, Alongside Legalization Measure<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A second Delaware Senate committee approved a House-passed bill on Thursday to create a regulated adult-use marijuana market, sending it to the floor where a complementary measure to legalize possession is also set for action. The proposals are being sponsored by Rep. Ed Osienski (D), and they both advanced throughContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":62738,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62737"}],"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=62737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62739,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62737\/revisions\/62739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Delaware Senators Send House-Passed Marijuana Sales Bill To The Floor, Alongside Legalization Measure<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"