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The governor of Wisconsin has signed a large-scale bill that contains a controversial provision blocking the ability of local governments to put non-binding advisory questions on the ballot\u2014a policy that\u2019s been used over the years to demonstrate widespread public support for marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n
Gov. Tony Evers (D) gave final approval to the legislation\u2014which is principally focused on revenue sharing and increasing funding for localities\u2014on Tuesday, without explicitly mentioning the advisory question issue.<\/p>\n
The local referenda have been used to take the temperature of voters on a number of issues, including those championed by Democrats like cannabis legalization and abortion rights that could theoretically boost turnout in the state, where the legislature is controlled by Republicans.<\/p>\n
GOP legislators inserted a number of provisions into the broader legislation that are opposed by Democratic members, but the governor ultimately signed the bill into law and described it as a \u201chistoric\u201d development that will empower localities to raise their sales tax rates to avoid bankruptcy, for example.<\/p>\n
Democrats have criticized the advisory question elimination, however. And during last year\u2019s election alone, voters in three counties and five municipalities approved referenda voicing support for cannabis legalization<\/a>, which is a reform that\u2019s also backed by the governor but has consistently stalled under GOP leadership in Madison.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal governments deserve adequate funding from the state, without unnecessary strings attached,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI firmly believe that local leaders best understand the unique needs of their communities, and it was shortsighted for Republican legislators in the Capitol to attach mandates to this vital funding, claiming to know what\u2019s best for every community,\u201d Agard, who also spoke with Marijuana Moment last month<\/a> about the challenges of advancing cannabis reform amid GOP opposition, said. \u201cWhile I remain vehemently opposed to the policy strings attached, I know that the local funding increases associated with this package are long overdue for our local units of government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n The text of the advisory question provision in the bill<\/a> states that county boards \u201cmay conduct a countywide referendum The county boards \u201cmay not conduct a referendum for advisory purposes, except as provided under s. 66.0305 (6) or for an advisory referendum regarding capital expenditures proposed to be funded by the county property tax levy,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, the Republican speaker of the Assembly said last week that his caucus plans to introduce a medical marijuana bill<\/a> as early as this summer. But he emphasized that it will be unlike any existing medical cannabis law in the country, strongly signaling that it will be significantly restrictive.<\/p>\n Democratic lawmakers have been skeptical about\u00a0the reported efforts by GOP colleagues<\/a> to advance medical cannabis reform in the state. Evers and Agard have been among those who\u2019ve been pushing for comprehensive legalization, but so far cannabis issues have failed to advance in the conservative legislature.<\/p>\n The governor said in January that he does believe Republicans will introduce medical cannabis legislation this session, and he committed to signing it into law<\/a>, so long as it\u2019s not \u201cflawed\u201d with too many limitations.<\/p>\n The governor and the GOP majority have had a strained relationship on this issue. Leadership has criticized Evers for putting adult-use legalization in recent budget requests, with the\u00a0Assembly speaker warning this year<\/a>\u00a0that including the broad reform could jeopardize talks on more modest medical marijuana legislation.<\/p>\n He did it anyways\u2014and,\u00a0at a joint committee hearing last month<\/a>, Republicans responded in kind, stripping both recreational and medical cannabis language from the budget proposal, along with hundreds of other policy items.<\/p>\n At the Senate minority leader\u2019s request, the state\u2019s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) carried out a study that was released in March showing that Wisconsin residents\u00a0purchased more than $121 million worth of marijuana<\/a>\u00a0from Illinois retailers in 2022, contributing about $36 million in tax revenue to the state.<\/p>\n A separate\u00a0report published by Wisconsin Policy Forum in February found that 50 percent of adults 21 and older in the state live within 75 minutes of an out-of-state cannabis retailer, such as in Illinois or Michigan. That percentage stands to increase when Minnesota\u2019s market eventually comes online.<\/p>\n Congressional Bill To Decriminalize All Drugs Will Be Refiled Soon, Sponsors Announce On Drug War Anniversary<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill With GOP Provision Blocking Local Marijuana Legalization Advisory Questions<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Wisconsin has signed a large-scale bill that contains a controversial provision blocking the ability of local governments to put non-binding advisory questions on the ballot\u2014a policy that\u2019s been used over the years to demonstrate widespread public support for marijuana legalization. Gov. Tony Evers (D) gave final approvalContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":66130,"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\/66129"}],"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=66129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66131,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66129\/revisions\/66131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}for advisory purposes or<\/del> for the purpose of ratifying or validating a resolution adopted or ordinance enacted by the board contingent upon approval in the referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill With GOP Provision Blocking Local Marijuana Legalization Advisory Questions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"