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The Minnesota Senate has finally approved a bill to legalize marijuana that advanced through 13 committees, setting the stage for a conference with the House to resolve differences with a companion reform measure that the chamber passed<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The Senate passed the legislation from Sen. Lindsey Port (D) in a 34-33 vote on Friday. This comes just two days after the proposal cleared its final committee, with amendments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prohibition of cannabis is a failed system that has not achieved the desired goals and has had incredible costs for our communities, especially for communities of color,\u201d Port said on the floor. \u201cWe have an opportunity today to vote green to undo some of the harm that has been done and create a unique system of regulation that works for Minnesota consumers and businesses, while ensuring an opportunity in this new market for communities that have been most affected by prohibition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur main goals are to legalize regulate and expunge, and this bill does just that,\u201d she said. \u201cCarrying this bill for our caucus has been an incredible honor.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear when bicameral conference committee negotiators will be appointed to settle the differences and move for final passage in each chamber\u2014but the session ends on May 22, giving lawmakers just a few weeks to get the bill to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n During its last committee stop, senators took a procedural step to use the House-passed bill as the vehicle<\/a> to consider legalization in the Senate from this point forward, rather than sending the original bill to the floor of the body\u2014though the legislation has now been amended with the Senate\u2019s language.<\/p>\n\n Both bills have been amended numerous times throughout this process, with lawmakers working to incorporate public feedback, revise policies around issues like tax structures for the market and tighten up language.<\/p>\n For example, a Senate panel\u00a0adopted a comprehensive substitute<\/a>\u00a0from the sponsor at a committee stop in March that is primarily meant to address concerns from industry stakeholders who are operating under a cannabis law enacted last year\u00a0that legalized low-THC edibles in the state<\/a>.\u00a0The House bill also\u00a0went through a similar major revisions in committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n With majorities in both the House and Senate and control over the governorship this session, Democratic-Farmer-Labor party officials have been expressing confidence that legalization will be enacted this year.<\/p>\n Gov. Tim Walz (D)\u00a0released his biennial budget request<\/a>\u00a0in January, which included proposed funding to implement marijuana legalization and expungements, and made projections about the millions of dollars in cannabis tax revenue that his office estimates the state will earn after the reform is enacted.<\/p>\n Legalizing adult-use cannabis and expunging cannabis convictions is good for our economy and the right move for Minnesota. \u2014 Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) April 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The legislation that\u2019s advancing is an iteration of the 2021 House-passed bill from former Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D), who now\u00a0serves as campaign chairman of the advocacy coalition MN is Ready<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor has called on supporters to join lawmakers and the administration in their push legalize marijuana this session, and\u00a0he circulated an email blast in January<\/a>\u00a0that encourages people to sign a petition backing the reform.<\/p>\n Senators on Friday approved several amendments to the bill, including proposals to increase funding for the State Patrol to support drug recognition experts and to increase funding for substance use treatment, recovery and prevention grants.<\/p>\n Another adopted amendment will allow local governments to limit the number of cannabis business licenses based on population size and to place restrictions on hours of sale, noise, odor and location. An additional amendment added to the bill makes technical fixes to dates and to provisions on loan programs created by the legislation.<\/p>\n Here are the main components of the revised marijuana legalization\u00a0bills,\u00a0HF 100<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SF 73<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess in public up to two ounces of cannabis and they would be allowed to cultivate up to eight plants at home, four of which could be mature.<\/p>\n The House bill would allow people to possess up to 1.5 pounds in a private dwelling, while the Senate bill would let people have up to five pounds of self-cultivated cannabis at home and up to two pounds derived from any other source.<\/p>\n Gifting up to two ounces of marijuana without remuneration between adults would be permitted.<\/p>\n Prior marijuana records would also be automatically expunged. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would be responsible for identifying people who are eligible for relief and process the expungements.<\/p>\n In addition to creating a system of licensed cannabis businesses, municipalities and counties could own and operate government dispensaries.<\/p>\n On-site consumption permits could be approved for events, and cannabis delivery services would be permitted under the bill.<\/p>\n Local municipalities would be banned from prohibiting marijuana businesses from operating in their areas, though they could set \u201creasonable\u201d regulations on the time of operation and location of those businesses.<\/p>\n Under the House bill, cannabis sales would be taxed at eight percent\u2014and thereafter, the commissioner of management and budget would adjust the rate every two years so that revenues equal, or do not significantly exceed, the costs of implementing legalization incurred by various agencies. The Senate bill calls for a 10 percent tax rate on marijuana sales that would not change over time.<\/p>\n Part of the tax revenue would fund substance misuse treatment programs, as well as grants to support farmers.<\/p>\n A new Office of Cannabis Management would be established, and it would be responsible for regulating the market and issuing cannabis business licenses. There would be a designated Division of Social Equity.<\/p>\n The legislation would promote social equity, in part by ensuring diverse licensing by scoring equity applicants higher. People living in low-income neighborhoods and military veterans who lost honorable status due to a cannabis-related offense would be considered social equity applicants eligible for priority licensing, and the House bill says that people convicted of cannabis offenses, or who have an immediate family member with such a conviction, would also qualify.<\/p>\n The Senate on Friday rejected a floor amendment that would have increased the initial tax rate for marijuana sales to 12 percent instead of 10 percent and raised it by 1 percent each year starting in 2028 until it reached 20 percent\u2014while also increasing the share of revenue directed to local governments.<\/p>\n \u2014 The House bill was vetted by numerous committees before reaching the floor. It passed the\u00a0Ways and Means Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Taxes Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Transportation Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Health Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Education Finance Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Human Services Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Workforce Development Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0State and Local Government Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Labor and Industry Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Commerce Finance and Policy Committee<\/a>\u00a0(twice<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Senate committees that have signed off on the bill are the Finance Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Taxes Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Rules and Administration Committee<\/a>,\u00a0State and Local Government and Veterans Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Labor Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Human Services Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Health and Human Services Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Transportation Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Environment, Climate, and Legacy Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Jobs and Economic Development Committee<\/a>,\u00a0Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Judiciary and Public Safety Committee<\/a>\u00a0(twice)<\/a>.<\/p>\n These Minnesota developments come days after Delaware\u2019s governor announced that he would allow a pair of cannabis legalization and sales bill\u00a0to become law without his signature<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Minnesota, lawmakers and the governor have expressed optimism about the prospects of legalization this session, especially with Democrats newly in control of both chambers, whereas last session they only had a House majority.<\/p>\n Congratulations to my friend and partner @Lindsey_Port<\/a> on passing our bill to legalize cannabis off of the floor of the Minnesota Senate. A historic moment! Now we move to conference committee.<\/p>\n We’re going to get this done!<\/p>\n \u2014 Zack Stephenson (@zackstephenson) April 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Following their election win in November,\u00a0Democrats internally agreed to discuss the issue<\/a>\u00a0imminently.<\/p>\n It appears that House Speaker Melissa Hortman\u2019s (D) prediction at the beginning of the session that it would take \u201ca long time,\u201d potentially up until next year, to enact legalization., did not come to pass.<\/p>\n Walz\u2019s timeline is proving more on-point, as he\u00a0said late last year that it would be done \u201cby May.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Winkler, who\u00a0recently launched a THC beverage company<\/a>, previously told Marijuana Moment that he agreed with the governor, saying \u201cit is likely that [passing legalization] will be done by May.\u201d<\/p>\n Two polls released in September found that the majority of Minnesota residents\u00a0support adult-use marijuana legalization<\/a>\u2014and one survey showed that even more Minnesotans approve of the state\u2019s move to legalize THC-infused edibles that was enacted last year.<\/p>\n A\u00a0survey conducted by officials with the House<\/a>\u00a0at the annual State Fair that was released in September also found majority support for legalization. That legislature-run poll found that 61 percent of Minnesotans back legalizing cannabis for adult use.<\/p>\n Support was up this year from 58 percent when the House Public Information Services\u00a0polled fair goers on the issue in 2021<\/a>. In 2019,\u00a0the House poll found 56 percent<\/a>\u00a0support for legalization.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in Minnesota, the House separately passed an omnibus health bill<\/a> this week that contains provisions to create a psychedelics task force<\/a>\u00a0meant to prepare the state for possible legalization.<\/p>\n The large-scale Senate legislation was amended in the House earlier this month to include language from a standalone psychedelics measure sponsored by Rep. Andy Smith (D). The proposal is expected to move to a bicameral conference committee, where members will reconcile differences between the House and Senate proposals.<\/p>\n Insurance Companies That Work With Marijuana Businesses Would Be Protected Under Bipartisan Congressional Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Minnesota Senate Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill Days After House Companion Passes<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Senate has finally approved a bill to legalize marijuana that advanced through 13 committees, setting the stage for a conference with the House to resolve differences with a companion reform measure that the chamber passed on Tuesday. The Senate passed the legislation from Sen. Lindsey Port (D) inContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":64375,"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\/64374"}],"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=64374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64376,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64374\/revisions\/64376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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When the bill reaches my desk, I\u2019ll be proud to sign it into law.<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Minnesota Senate Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill Days After House Companion Passes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"