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Bipartisan Wisconsin lawmakers will soon be introducing a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession for first-time offenses.<\/p>\n
Reps. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D) and Shae Sortwell (R) are in the process of circulating the draft legislation to build support among colleagues.<\/p>\n
The text of the proposal hasn\u2019t been formally filed yet, but the sponsors previously teamed up on similar reform cannabis decriminalization legislation<\/a> that failed to advance to enactment.<\/p>\n Under the latest proposal, people found in possession of up to 28 grams of marijuana for the first time would face a $100 fine, without a threat of jail time. Possessing more than 28 possession as a first offense would be punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail.<\/p>\n Current law, by contrast, makes first-time possession of any amount of cannabis a misdemeanor offense that carries a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.<\/p>\n The law also currently maintains that repeat offenders can be convicted of a Class I felony, with a sentence of up to three and a half years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.<\/p>\n The forthcoming bill, first reported<\/a> by CBS 58 News, would also revise sentencing standards to make it so simple marijuana possession of up to 58 grams would not count toward repeat offenses for other drug-related crimes.<\/p>\n This latest cannabis reform proposal is being pitched within the legislature about a week after Wisconsin senators approved a separate GOP-led bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Senate Health Committee last week advanced the medical cannabis legislation from Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R) in a 4-1 vote. This comes months after the panel held an initial hearing on the GOP-led proposal<\/a>,\u00a0which was introduced last October<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wisconsin\u2019s GOP Assembly speaker said last year that\u00a0he hoped lawmakers in the state could \u201cfind a consensus\u201d on legislation to legalize medical marijuana<\/a>. But he added that the cannabis bill filed by his Republican leadership counterpart in the Senate was \u201cunlikely\u201d to pass his chamber because it is \u201cway too broad and way too wide-ranging.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the speaker said\u00a0he thinks \u201cwe are not there\u201d in terms of having enough votes to advance even a medical cannabis bill<\/a>\u00a0through his chamber at this point, despite characterizing himself as a supporter of patients\u2019 access to marijuana \u201cfor almost a decade now.\u201d<\/p>\n In the background,\u00a0Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers recently unveiled a new bill to legalize marijuana in the state<\/a>\u2014though its prospects of passage remain dubious with Republicans still in control of both chambers of the legislature.<\/p>\n \u201cLegalization of cannabis is not radical. What\u2019s radical is continuing a system that destroys lives, drains resources and ignores the will of the people,\u201d Rep. Darrin Madison (D) said during a press conference on last week. \u201cWisconsin\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p>\n With just under a year before voters elect their next governor, the majority of the current candidates have made clear that\u00a0they will support efforts to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u2014in part to fund public programs such as increased access to broadband.<\/p>\n A poll released last June by Marquette Law School found that\u00a0two in three Wisconsin voters support legalizing marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n The survey found that support for cannabis reform has generally increased over time since the institution first started tracking public opinion on legalization in 2013, with 67 percent of voters now backing the policy change. That\u2019s 17 percentage points higher than the 2013 results.<\/p>\n Underscoring the importance of party control, the state\u2019s Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly this summer rejected another attempt to legalize marijuana,\u00a0defeating amendments to budget legislation that would have ended prohibition in the state<\/a>\u00a0and established new medical and recreational cannabis programs.<\/p>\n Evers has\u00a0routinely attempted to change that policy as part of his budget requests<\/a>\u2014and Democratic leaders have similarly pushed for reform.<\/p>\n Republicans in the legislature\u00a0also cut the marijuana provisions from a state budget proposal in May<\/a>, as they\u2019ve done in past sessions.<\/p>\n Despite Republicans\u2019\u00a0move\u00a0to\u00a0cut\u00a0legalization from the budget legislation,\u00a0party leaders recently acknowledged that the debate over medical marijuana legalization is \u201cnot going to go away,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and there\u2019s hope it can be resolved this session.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin said in July that\u00a0he was \u201copen to considering different opportunities\u201d when it comes to legalizing medical or adult-use marijuana<\/a>\u00a0in the state, though he has provided little in the way of specifics so far.<\/p>\n On the Democratic side, current Gov. Tony Evers (D), who supports legalizing cannabis, is not seeking re-election. But he said last June that\u00a0if his party can take control of the legislature, the state can \u201cfinally\u201d legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0so that residents don\u2019t have to go to neighboring Illinois to visit its adult-use market.<\/p>\n \u2014 There have been repeated attempts to legalize medical marijuana in the legislature over recent years, including the introduction of legislation from the Assembly speaker that\u00a0called for a limited program facilitated through state-run dispensaries<\/a>. That proved controversial among his Republican colleagues, however, and it ultimately stalled out.<\/p>\n Evers previewed his plan to\u00a0include marijuana legalization in his budget last January<\/a>, while also arguing that residents of the state should be allowed to propose new laws by putting binding questions on the ballot\u2014citing the fact that issues such as cannabis reform enjoy sizable bipartisan support while the GOP-controlled legislature has repeatedly refused to act.<\/p>\n Previously, in 2022, the governor signed an executive order to convene a special legislative session with the specific goal of\u00a0giving people the right to put citizen initiatives on the ballot<\/a>, raising hopes among advocates that cannabis legalization could eventually be decided by voters. The GOP legislature did not adopt the proposal, however.<\/p>\n Evers said in late 2024 that\u00a0marijuana reform is one of several key priorities the state should pursue<\/a>\u00a0in the 2025 session, as lawmakers work with a budget surplus.<\/p>\n Days after he made the remarks, a\u00a0survey found the reform would be welcomed by voters<\/a>\u00a0in rural parts of the state. Nearly two thirds (65 percent) said they support legalizing cannabis.<\/p>\n Last May, the governor said he was \u201chopeful\u201d that the November 2024 election would lead to Democratic control of the legislature, in part because\u00a0he argued it would position the state to finally legalize cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been working hard over the last five years, several budgets, to make that happen,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI know we\u2019re surrounded by states with recreational marijuana, and we\u2019re going to continue to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n A Wisconsin Democratic Assemblymember tried to force a vote on a medical cannabis compromise proposal in 2024, as an amendment to an unrelated kratom bill, but he told Marijuana Moment he suspects leadership\u00a0intentionally pulled that legislation from the agenda at the last minute to avoid a showdown<\/a>\u00a0on the issue.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the state Department of Revenue released a fiscal estimate of the economic impact of a legalization bill from then-Sen. Melissa Agard (D) in 2023, projecting that\u00a0the reform would generate nearly $170 million annually in tax revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n A legislative analysis requested by lawmakers estimated that\u00a0Wisconsin residents spent more than $121 million on cannabis in Illinois alone<\/a>\u00a0in 2022, contributing $36 million in tax revenue to the neighboring state.<\/p>\n Evers and other Democrats have since at least 2024\u00a0insisted that they would be willing to enact a modest medical marijuana program<\/a>, even if they\u2019d prefer more comprehensive reform.<\/p>\n Read the draft Wisconsin marijuana decriminalization bill<\/a> below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The post Bipartisan Wisconsin Lawmakers Circulate Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Bipartisan Wisconsin lawmakers will soon be introducing a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession for first-time offenses. Reps. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D) and Shae Sortwell (R) are in the process of circulating the draft legislation to build support among colleagues. The text of the proposal hasn\u2019t been formally filed yet, but theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85402,"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\/85401"}],"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=85401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85403,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85401\/revisions\/85403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Bipartisan Wisconsin Lawmakers Circulate Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"