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The governor of Pennsylvania says he hasn\u2019t given up on his push to legalize adult-use marijuana through the budget.<\/p>\n
Despite resistance from Republican leaders, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said on Monday that cannabis legalization\u2014as well as taxing skill games\u2014remains part of his plan to offset the state\u2019s budget deficit.<\/p>\n
Pressed on the seeming unwillingness of GOP lawmakers to advance that agenda through the budget, which is technically eight weeks past a constitutionally mandated deadline to pass, Shapiro said\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not going to concede on any of those fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ll be able to pass a fiscally responsible budget that cuts taxes and makes significant investments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This comes as the leading Republican candidate in the race to become the next governor of Pennsylvania dodged a question about her stance on legalizing marijuana<\/a>\u2014saying she doesn\u2019t have a \u201cpolicy position\u201d on the issue and arguing that the sitting governor\u2019s proposal for reform \u201cway, way overstated\u201d potential revenue.<\/p>\n\n The candidate, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), pointed to neighboring Ohio, which launched its own adult-use cannabis market this year, saying \u201cthey generated about $115 million in revenue.\u201d<\/a> And while the populations of both states are relatively comparable, Shapiro\u2019s budget projected $536.5 million in cannabis revenue in the first fiscal year<\/a>\u00a0of implementation.<\/p>\n She did, however, say that if Pennsylvania moves forward on enacting the reform, she\u2019ll \u201cmake sure that it\u2019s banked appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania Democratic senator recently said that federal marijuana rescheduling\u2014which President Donald Trump said he\u2019d be making a decision on imminently\u2014would be \u201cvery influential\u201d in advancing legalization in his state<\/a>, giving \u201cpolitical cover\u201d to GOP members on the fence about reform.<\/p>\n Sen. Sharif Street (D) discussed the status of cannabis legalization efforts in the Keystone State, including a\u00a0bipartisan proposal to end prohibition that he filed<\/a>\u00a0alongside Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) last month.<\/p>\n The House did narrowly pass a bill to legalize cannabis with state-run stores,\u00a0but it was quickly rejected in the Senate in May<\/a>. Another\u00a0legalization proposal with a state-run sales was introduced<\/a>\u00a0last month, but Street says that regulatory model is a non-starter.<\/p>\n \u2014 The House-passed legalization bill isn\u2019t necessarily dead for the session as a vehicle to advance reform, however, and Democrats in the chamber recently called on voters to\u00a0pressure state senators to sign off on the cannabis measure<\/a>, arguing that it would benefit health and safety and bring in billions of dollars in revenue for the commonwealth.<\/p>\n While\u00a0other legalization proposals have since been filed in the state<\/a>\u2014including from\u00a0bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers<\/a>\u2014Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) and others have\u00a0already signaled disinterest in the reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, due largely to GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy change\u2014and one recently said she felt her party should\u00a0seize the \u201copportunity to snatch\u201d the issue from Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to pushback from Senate Majority Leader Pittman, another Republican, Sen. Scott Martin, who chairs the influential Appropriations Committee, said earlier this month that he didn\u2019t plan to move on any adult-use legalization bills.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, one Republican senator sponsoring a legalization proposal said last week that\u00a0supporters in the legislature are \u201cpicking up votes.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Laughlin\u2014who introduced a legalization bill with Street\u2014said support is growing because \u201cpeople would rather [legalize cannabis] than do a tax increase to try and balance a budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Amen Brown (D) subsequently said he\u00a0intended to file a House companion version of that measure, circulating a cosponsorship memo to colleagues last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, just days after Laughlin and Street filed their measure, Reps. Emily Kinkead (D) and Abby Major (R)\u2014alongside eight other cosponsors\u2014filed legislation in the House to enact the reform<\/a>. The pair have previously\u00a0championed other proposals to end prohibition.<\/a><\/p>\n Laughlin and 16 other lawmakers also recently filed a separate bill to create a new regulatory body in the state that would begin\u00a0overseeing medical cannabis while preparing to eventually handle the adult-use market<\/a>\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n Separately, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they\u00a0favor a model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses<\/a>\u00a0rather than through a system of state-run stores.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a Democratic lawmaker recently filed a bill that seeks to\u00a0require employers to cover the costs of medical cannabis<\/a>\u00a0for qualifying patients receiving workers\u2019 compensation.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Pennsylvania Governor Says He Won\u2019t \u2018Concede\u2019 On Marijuana Legalization Push Despite GOP Resistance<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Pennsylvania says he hasn\u2019t given up on his push to legalize adult-use marijuana through the budget. Despite resistance from Republican leaders, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said on Monday that cannabis legalization\u2014as well as taxing skill games\u2014remains part of his plan to offset the state\u2019s budget deficit. PressedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":82972,"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\/82971"}],"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=82971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82973,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82971\/revisions\/82973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania Governor Says He Won\u2019t \u2018Concede\u2019 On Marijuana Legalization Push Despite GOP Resistance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"