Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Approved In First Committee Vote
February 20, 2021
Mail order marijuana.Published
5 hours ago
on February 17, 2021
A bill to legalize marijuana
in Minnesota was
approve by a House committee on Wednesday
—the first of up to a dozen panels that are
expect to take up the reform legislation in the
weeks to come in advance of a floor vote.
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D),
Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and other law
makers filed the measure earlier this month.
It would allow adults 21 and older to purchase
and possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis and
cultivate up to eight plants, four of which
could be mature.
The House Commerce Finance and Policy
Committee passed the bill in a 10-7 vote.
A second hearing on the proposal is
scheduled in the Labor, Industry, Veterans and
Military Affairs Finance and Policy
Committee for February 23.
Winkler’s bill as introduced was identical
to a proposal he filed last year, with some
minor technical changes. The majority leader,
who led a statewide listening to gather public
input ahead of the measure’s introduction, call
it the “best legalization bill in the country” at the
time. It did not advance in that session, however.
Under the proposal, social equity
would be prioritized, in part by ensuring
diverse licensing and preventing the market
from being monopolized by corporate players.
Prior marijuana records would also be
automatically expunge.
—
Marijuana Moment is already
tracking more than 600 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year.
Patreon supporters pledging at least
$25/month get access to our interactive
maps, charts and hearing calendar so
they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our
marijuana bill tracker and become a
services would also be permit. And unlike
supporter on Patreon to get access.
services would also be permit. And unlike
—
On-site consumption and cannabis delivery
services would also be permit. And unlike
in many legal states, local municipalities
services would also be permit.And unlike
would be ban from prohibiting marijuana
services would also be permit.And unlike
businesses from operating in their areas.
services would also be permit.And unlike
Retail cannabis sales would be tax at 10
services would also be permit.And unlike
percent. Part of that revenue would fund a
grant program designed to promote economic
development and community stability.
The bill calls for the establishment of a
seven-person Cannabis Management Board,
which would be responsible for regulating
the market and issuing cannabis business licenses.
It was amend in committee on Tuesday to add
members to that board who have a social justice background.
The committee-approve
amendment from Winkler would also allow municipal and county governments to own cannabis stores. It would additionally clarify that enacting marijuana legalization wouldn’t affect the Clean Indoor Air Act, among other changes to the bill.
A separate amendment, from Rep. Tim O’Driscoll (R), was also adopt, via a voice vote. It would prevent marijuana businesses from being located within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, nursing home, union headquarters, house of worship or the Capitol.
While Winkler said that the issue of cannabis dispensary location is better handle by local governments rather than a statewide blanket policy, he agree to let the amendment be attach to the bill for now while committing to refine its language in a subsequent committee.
Prior to the vote to approve the bill, other panel members asked questions about potential conflicts with federal law, employment-related issues, marijuana-impaired driving and other issues.
Winkler said in his opening
remarks at the start of the hearing that the reason for the legislation is that “we have cannabis laws in place today that are doing more harm than good.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fkylejaeger&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1362125927786840064&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marijuanamoment.net%2Fminnesota-marijuana-legalization-bill-approved-in-first-committee-vote%2F&siteScreenName=marijuanamoment&theme=light&widgetsVersion=889aa01%3A1612811843556&width=550px
Legalization “is coming,” he said. “It is time for us to get it right and that’s what this bill represents. It’s not perfect, but I think through the work of this committee —through the work with advocacy organizations and your input—we can make it better and move it towards final passage.”
A local council of the trade union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association submitted testimony in favor of the legalization bill prior to the hearing. Opposing testimony came from organizations including the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Minnesota Trucking Association.
A day before Wednesday’s
committee vote, Winkler was join by U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) in a webinar where the trio discussed the need to enact a cannabis policy change.
“We do intend to bring it all the way through, and we think it will set a standard for equity, for righting past wrongs and addressing the racist war on crime to create a Minnesota-based business for small business, microbusiness and craft-type businesses,” the majority leader told the congresswomen. “We will allow Minnesotans to have the basic freedom to safely use a product that they will enjoy both for its health benefits and for its personal use.”
“It’s time to end this past approach—it is long past time to make cannabis legal in Minnesota and to begin dismantling the structural criminal justice attack on black and brown Minnesotans, black and brown America,” he said. “We can do it with this bill and we’re going to push hard.”
The majority leader say
that while legalization will not “solve all criminal justice disparities in Minnesota,” there’s “no question that cannabis arrests have led to a lot of other charges,” including those based on police searches that were conduct because an officer smell a cannabis odor. He cited a high profile case of a man killed by a Minnesota officer who attempted to justify the encounter over the smell of marijuana.
“The terrible situation—the killing of Philando Castile, which in part was base on cannabis smell in the car, and that was part of the outrageous justification from the officer for why he was not in the right frame of mind with respect to that stop,” he say. “[Criminalization] can have devastating consequences.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D) is also in favor of ending marijuana prohibition, and last month he call on lawmakers to pursue the reform as a means to boost the economy and promote racial justice. He did not include a request to legalize through his budget proposal, however.
Walz did say in 2019
that he was directing state agencies to prepare to implement reform in anticipation of legalization passing.
Winkler, meanwhile, said in December that if Senate Republicans don’t go along with the policy change legislatively, he said he hopes they will at least let voters decide on cannabis as a 2022 ballot measure.
Heading into the 2020 election, Democrats believed they had a shot of taking control of the Senate, but that didn’t happen.
The result appears to be partly due to the fact that candidates from marijuana-focused parties in the state earned a sizable share of votes that may have otherwise gone to Democrats, perhaps inadvertently hurting the chances of reform passing.
While Republicans remain in control of the Senate, Winkler said on Tuesday that he thinks they “will pick up quite a bit of Republican support” for the legalization bill. And at the very least, he’s hopeful that the chamber will at least hold a vote on the proposal.
“Our strategy is base
on demonstrating strong support from Democrats but also showing that Republicans want to have a chance to vote on the bill and want to have an opportunity to see if we can get it passed,” he said. “We have never pass it in the House before. We’re going to do that and we’re going to work on a strategy of putting pressure on Senate leadership to at least bring the bill up and see if we can get the votes to pass it.”
We have one or two little legislative tricks that we can use to try to do that,” he said, adding that before the other chamber gets a chance to take up the bill it will first undergo “weeks and weeks of hearings in committees” on the House side.
In December, the Minnesota House Select Committee On Racial Justice adopted a report that broadly details race-based disparities in criminal enforcement and recommends a series of policy changes, including marijuana decriminalization and expungements.
Buy edibles online, Buy cannabis oil, Buy CBD distilate online , buy concentrates online, Buy moon rocks, Buy vapes, ,buy wax online