Key Pennsylvania Lawmakers Are ‘Optimistic’ A Compromise Marijuana Legalization Bill Can Pass ‘In The Next Few Weeks’
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Bicameral Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers are aiming to reach a compromise on marijuana legalization over the next few weeks after a House-passed bill to enact the reform with state-run stores was killed in the Senate. And a House sponsor of that legislation indicated he’s open to dropping its controversial state control component.
On an episode of Sen. Sharif Street’s (D) podcast “Planting Seeds” that was released on Thursday, the senator spoke with Rep. Rick Krajewski (D) about the path forward for reform as they both seek to get a legalization bill through the legislature and to the governor’s desk before July to meet a budgetary deadline.
While the legislation Krajewski sponsored alongside Rep. Dan Frankel (D) was rejected in a Senate committee this month following its expedited passage through the House along party lines, Street said he’s “cautiously optimistic we’re going to be able to revive the bill and amend it and move forward with a work product that allows us to get a bill on the governor’s desk and realize revenue.”
Street, who doesn’t support the state-run model envisioned in Krajewski’s bill, emphasized that Republicans maintain narrow control of the Senate, and so an amended version will need to be carefully crafted with bipartisan appeal. And there’s “pretty deep distrust” within the Senate about the Liquor Control Board (LCB) that House measure would have oversee the cannabis shops.
Even so, Street said he sees “a real good possibility” that the legislation is “revived and we’re able to move forward.”
“We’re still having discussions—and this is still a big, big, big step, because even though that bill was voted down, the Senate still has it,” he said. Part of that conversation is with Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), who has cosponsored separate bipartisan legalization legislation with Street and who chairs the Senate panel that recently rejected the House bill. The Republican senator “certainly is open and amenable to continued discussions,” Street said.
“He and I are still talking. We’re friends. I think we can get a bill done and look the revenue we want it. There’s a revenue pressure,” he said. “We’d like to get this done before July, which means there could—they’ll go to the governor’s desk in the next few weeks. That is not unrealistic.”
The senator emphasized that there was a “a lot of work” put into HB 1200, and delivering it to the Senate “was really important.
“We’re closer than we ever have to legalizing cannabis,” he said. “And I will say that there were Republican and Democratic members that indicated in their comments they would vote for a cannabis legalization bill. They just weren’t prepared to vote for this bill.”
According to Street, Laughlin indicated that senators are preparing an amendment to HB 1200 so that it can be reconsidered. And notably, Krajewski signaled that he’s not necessarily opposed to making key revisions to the legislation, even if he maintains that a state-run store system would be an ideal regulatory model for Pennsylvania and felt “very surprised” that the Senate committee took the “unusual” step of voting down the measure rather than hold it and prepare a possible amendment.
That said, the House itself also undertook an unusual legislative process for the bill that proposed what would be a first-of-its-kind sales model for marijuana, given that it moved from introduction to passage through the body with limited debate in the span of just three days.
“You have the conversation and come up with an amendment to figure out the compromise for moving forward—and I’m prepared to do that,” Krajewski said, adding that Frankel too “is prepared to do that.”
“Neither of us have indicated that the model that we put forward in the legislation is a line in the sand,” he said. “I’m not naive about the feelings about the LCB from both the House and the Senate, but I think what we intended to do with House Bill 1200 was to put a proposal out in the exchange of ideas.”
He added that he remains “optimistic” about advancing some version of legalization, and he’s “excited and proud that we were able to take this historic step. I remain open to negotiating and discussing the bill that makes the most sense at the end of the day.”
With respect to the timeline—with an ambitious goal of passing the reform before July—Street said “reviving and advancing 1200, logistically, it’s the cleanest way, the quickest way of getting this done. And so I think that makes sense.”
“When we do finally get past these stupid federal regulations and amend them, Pennsylvania is going to have an industry that’s some of the best in the nation—and we’ll be able to supply not only the commonwealth, but the nation and the world,” he said.
Krajewski noted that building consensus around a legalization bill is also complicated by the fact that “you still have some Democratic members who kind of tout and parrot these reefer madness talking points where you’re like, ‘What the heck are you talking about?’”
“So just getting that spectrum of people to be behind one piece of legislation was a Herculean effort,” he said of HB 1200.
While Street said his co-lead on prior legalization bills, Laughlin, is open to a discussion about amending the bill rejected by the Senate committee, the GOP senator himself recently seemed to suggest that lawmakers should pump the brakes on the push to enact the policy change amid resistance to reform within his caucus and instead pass a bill to create a new regulatory body that can begin overseeing medical cannabis and hemp while preparing to eventually handle the adult-use market as well.
“I remain committed to crafting a cannabis bill that can pass the Senate and be signed into law to benefit all Pennsylvanians,” Laughlin said. “That starts with honest dialogue from everyone involved, including House leadership and the governor, to develop a realistic approach–not political theater.”
Meanwhile, the governor of Pennsylvania is criticizing the GOP-controlled Senate for “ignoring” the will of voters after killing the House-passed bill to legalize marijuana.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said during an interview with WILK News Radio recently that the bill’s rejection does a disservice to the bipartisan majority of voters in the commonwealth who support legalization, as well as the state itself that’s losing out on potential tax revenue to neighboring states that have enacted the policy change.
“Look, clearly people want it,” Shapiro, who included legalization in his budget request for the third time this year, said. “Poll after poll shows that.”
Following the Senate committee vote, lawmakers from both chambers who support legalization have been trading criticisms about each other’s roles in the stalled push to end prohibition.
Prior to the Senate panel’s vote this week, Pennsylvania’s Republican attorney general said that while he doesn’t currently support the House-passed marijuana legalization bill, he’s open to changing his mind about the policy change after continuing to review the details.
For what it’s worth, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they favor a model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses, rather than through a system of state-run stores.
The governor has repeatedly called for adult-use marijuana legalization. However, he hasn’t endorsed the specific idea of having a state-controlled model.
Rep. Abby Major (R)—who is sponsoring another forthcoming legalization bill that envisions a traditional private sales model alongside Rep. Emily Kinkead (D)—said during the House floor debate on HB 1200 that she stands opposed to the competing bill, emphasizing that she disagrees with the state-run stores proposal.
While Democrats control the House and governor’s office, they will still need to reach a deal with the GOP-controlled Senate to effectuate change. And in addition to the conflicting perspectives among pro-legalization legislators, another potential barrier to reform is exactly that political dynamic.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) said that while he sees a “path forward” for enacting regulations for separate gaming-related reform, “I’m not seeing consensus between the four caucuses and the governor collectively that [marijuana legalization] should be a priority.”
Regardless of which direction Pennsylvania lawmakers do—or don’t—go on marijuana legalization this session, a survey released in April shows a majority of adults in the state support the reform—and opposition to the policy change has fallen by nearly 50 percent over the last decade.
Kinkead has made the case in another recent interview that legalizing cannabis in Pennsylvania will help the state mitigate public health and safety concerns associated with the illicit market, including the fact that unregulated products can be laced with fentanyl.
The lawmaker previously introduced a separate bipartisan marijuana legalization bill, alongside 15 other cosponsors, last September. It did not advance, however.
Meanwhile, Laughlin recently called for the creation of a state “legacy” fund, using tax revenue from adult-use marijuana sales and gaming to make long-term investments in the Commonwealth’s economy.
The senator argued that, beyond using any resulting tax revenue to fund day-to-day projects and public services, the state should earmark a portion of those tax dollars for a fund to “provide a sustainable source of prosperity that lasts for generations.”
Another GOP Pennsylvania senator, Sen. Gene Yaw (R), is backing the push to legalize marijuana in the commonwealth, pointing out that, historically, prohibition “has not turned out well,” noting the country’s experience with alcohol criminalization.
Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) recently said that Democrats are ready to pass a marijuana legalization bill this session, but that the party “will need Republican support” to get the job done—adding that it will be a “heavy lift.”
Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, owing in large part to GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy change—and one recently said she felt her party should seize the “opportunity to snatch” the issue from Democrats.
Separately in March, the Pennsylvania House approved a bill sponsored by Frankel that’s meant to strengthen safety standards and oversight of the state’s medical marijuana program as lawmakers work to advance adult-use legalization.
While Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program was enacted nearly a decade ago, lawmakers say the measure, which now heads to the Senate, is necessary to improve testing compliance, product audits and lab inspections, among other aspects of the industry.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would allow farmers and other small agriculture operators to sell marijuana they cultivate to existing growers and and processors if the state moves to legalize adult-use cannabis.
Separately, an independent Pennsylvania agency is projecting more tax dollars to be generated from adult-use marijuana sales compared to what the governor’s office has estimated, although it expects significantly less overall revenue from cannabis legalization due to differing views on licensing fees.
Pennsylvania officials have also launched a new survey that invites legal marijuana businesses across the country to provide information about their operations to help the state better understand the cannabis industry as lawmakers consider enacting adult-use legalization this session.
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Also, in a video interview released in March, the governor emphasized that the state is “losing out” to others that have already enacted adult-use legalization, while maintaining a policy that’s enriched the illicit market.
“I think it’s an issue of freedom and liberty. I mean, if folks want to smoke, they should be able to do so in a safe and legal way,” he said. “We should shut down the black market—and, by the way, every state around us is doing it. Pennsylvanians are driving to those other states and paying taxes in those other states.”
The state’s agriculture secretary separately told lawmakers that he’s fully confident that his department is in a “really good” position to oversee an adult-use marijuana program if lawmakers act.
Meanwhile, in February, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told lawmakers they are prepared to implement marijuana legalization if the legislature moves forward with the reform—and that they stand ready to work together as the details of legislation to achieve it are crafted.
Amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP state senator said prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could serve as an effective alternative.
A Republican Pennsylvania senator also recently defended the push to legalize and regulate marijuana, calling it “the most conservative stance” on the issue.
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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
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