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The Texas House of Representatives gave initial approval to a bill to decriminalize marijuana in the state<\/a> on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, a committee heard testimony on separate legislation to more broadly legalize and regulate cannabis sales.<\/p>\n The chamber passed the legislation from Rep. Joe Moody (D) on second reading in a voice vote, setting it up for final passage in the chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very proud to bring you a bill that will lower taxes, improve economic opportunities for Texans and strengthen the ability of law enforcement to respond to serious crimes,\u201d Moody said on the floor. \u201cHouse Bill 218 does that by changing the way we enforce laws around the personal use possession of cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPossessing a small amount of cannabis is still illegal. We\u2019re just addressing it in a smarter way than we do now,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat this will do is free up hundreds of millions of dollars that currently go into enforcement, keep police on the street working more serious cases instead of processing these petty arrests and make sure those who would currently end up with a record that interferes with jobs, school, housing and licensure come out of the process without any permanent stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n The vote comes\u00a0about a month\u00a0after the\u00a0House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee<\/a> unanimously passed the measure, which would remove the risk of arrest or jail time for low-level possession of cannabis and allow people to eventually erase cannabis issues from their criminal records.<\/p>\n The House has already\u00a0passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals<\/a>\u00a0during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But so far the\u00a0proposals have consistently stalled in the Senate<\/a>\u00a0amid opposition from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who presides over the chamber.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear if Patrick will again seek to block the reform legislation. Marijuana Moment reached out to the lieutenant governor\u2019s office for comment, but representatives did not respond by the time of publication.<\/p>\n HB 218<\/a> combines two separate measures from the most recent session, both of which passed on the full House.<\/p>\n It would make possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a Class C misdemeanor, removing the risk of jail time and instead imposing a maximum fine of $500. Existing law classifies possession of small amounts of cannabis as a Class B misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.<\/p>\n The bill also specifies that possession of up to two ounces of cannabis would not result in an arrest, meaning violators would be cited and released. Further, people with possession convictions for up to two ounces of marijuana could seek to have those convictions expunged through a court process for a $30 fee.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cThe House\u2019s continued support for penalty reduction is heartening,\u201d Texas NORML Executive Director Jax James said. \u201cWe do have more work to do as it heads to the Senate, so I encourage my fellow Texans to reach out to their senators to encourage their backing as it moves through the legislative process.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee held a hearing on another bill from Moody on Wednesday that would more broadly legalize marijuana sales. It allow adults to purchase, possess and gift up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis. They could also grow up to 12 plants, so long as they\u2019re kept in a secure, enclosed space.<\/p>\n The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation would be responsible for administering the program, including developing a process to license marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n The\u00a0bill<\/a>, HB 3562, proposes a 10 percent tax on cannabis products, and revenue would go to local municipalities where marijuana businesses are operating (10 percent), counties where those businesses are located (10 percent), a \u201ccannabis testing and quality control fund\u201d (one percent) and administrative costs. The remainder would support a public school teachers fund.<\/p>\n Localities couldn\u2019t ban marijuana businesses in their area, though they could set rules \u201cgoverning the hours of operation, location, manner of conducting business, and number of cannabis growers, cannabis establishments, or cannabis testing facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t appear that the bill proposes to take any specific steps to support social equity goals, such as expungements or licensing prioritization for people from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.<\/p>\n Moody noted the \u201chistoric\u201d nature of the hearing on the legalization bill.<\/p>\n \u201cNo cannabis retail market bill has ever gotten a hearing like this in the Texas Legislature,\u201d he said. \u201cThat reflects the changing times we\u2019re in, and I think of this as the beginning of a public conversation about whether this is the right policy for our state. I certainly think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep Joe Moody: \u201cI do want to impress upon you (Chairman) and the committee just how historic this is. No cannabis retail market bill has ever gotten a hearing like this in the Texas Legislature. That reflects the changing times we\u2019re in, and I think of this as the beginning of a\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Texas Cannabis Collective (@txcannaco) April 26, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Earlier this month, the House separately passed a bill to\u00a0allow medical marijuana as an opioid alternative<\/a>\u00a0for people with chronic pain and also replace the state\u2019s THC limit, sending the legislation to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n Nearly\u00a0three in four Texas voters (72 percent) support decriminalizing marijuana<\/a>, according to a University of Texas\/Texas Politics Project poll in December. More than half (55 percent), meanwhile, said they\u2019re in favor of broader legalization. Seventeen percent said it shouldn\u2019t be legal at all.<\/p>\n A more recent survey from the same institution similarly showed that a majority of Texas voters feel that\u00a0the state\u2019s marijuana laws should be \u201cless strict.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Texas lawmakers also recently filed a series of new bills aimed at\u00a0promoting and expanding psychedelics research<\/a>\u00a0in the state.<\/p>\n On the local level in Texas, meanwhile, activists have succeeded in enacting municipal cannabis reform policies. Most recently, voters in five cities\u2014Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos\u00a0passed marijuana decriminalization ballot measures<\/a>\u00a0in November.<\/p>\n Local officials in some of those municipalities have\u00a0sought to undermine the voter-approved cannabis measures<\/a>, however,<\/p>\n Voters in\u00a0San Antonio as set to decide on a similar cannabis decriminalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0next month.<\/p>\n Minnesota House Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill, While Senate Version Is Set For Final Committee Vote<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Texas House Gives Initial Approval To Marijuana Decriminalization Bill, Setting It Up For Final Passage In The Chamber<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Texas House of Representatives gave initial approval to a bill to decriminalize marijuana in the state on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, a committee heard testimony on separate legislation to more broadly legalize and regulate cannabis sales. The chamber passed the legislation from Rep. Joe Moody (D) on secondContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":64230,"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\/64229"}],"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=64229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64231,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64229\/revisions\/64231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Texas House Gives Initial Approval To Marijuana Decriminalization Bill, Setting It Up For Final Passage In The Chamber<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"