New Bipartisan Marijuana Legalization Bill In Pennsylvania House Comes As Separate Senate Proposal Gains Momentum
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Bipartisan Pennsylvania lawmakers have filed another bill to legalize marijuana in the state—adding one more reform proposal to the mix as a separate Democratic representative has now pledged to introduce a companion version of a Senate legalization proposal.
Days after Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D) filed their measure, Reps. Emily Kinkead (D) and Abby Major (R)—alongside eight other cosponsors—have filed separate legislation to enact legalization on Monday. The pair have previously championed other proposals to end prohibition.
The House did approve a different legalization bill earlier this session, with controversial provisions to provide for state-run stores that a Senate committee ultimately rejected.
Here’s the summary of the new House bill:
“An Act amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for adult use of cannabis; regulating the personal use and possession of cannabis; establishing the Keystone Cannabis Authority; providing for powers and duties of the Keystone Cannabis Authority; establishing the Community Opportunity Fund; providing for social and economic equity, for regulation of cannabis business establishments, for enforcement and immunities, for laboratory testing, for advertising, marketing, packaging and labeling and for preparation, destruction and regulation of cannabis and cannabis-infused edible and nonedible products; imposing a sales tax and excise tax on cannabis and cannabis-infused edible and nonedible products; establishing the Cannabis Regulation Fund; providing for cannabis clean slate and for miscellaneous provisions; imposing penalties; consolidating provisions relating to the medical use of cannabis; transferring certain powers and duties of the Department of Health to the Keystone Cannabis Authority; and making repeals.”
“The state needs to close a growing budget gap,” ResponsiblePA spokesperson Brit Crampsie said in a press release on Monday. “Communities across this state would benefit immensely from the jobs brought by regulated cannabis as laid out in this bipartisan piece of legislation—this includes both rural and urban communities that are getting hit hard by the lack of funding for essential state programs from transportation to healthcare systems—as well as looming federal funding cuts.”
“Voters clearly want legalization now and cannot afford drastic tax hikes,” she said.
Meanwhile, as the Kinkead-Major bill is being revealed, Rep. Amen Brown (D) said he’ll soon file companion legislation to the Laughlin- Street measure.
Brown told GoErie that he “fully support(s)” the new Senate bill because he’s “seen firsthand the devastating impact of outdated cannabis laws on our communities, particularly communities of color.”
‘This legislation is about more than economic opportunity; it’s about justice, equity, and creating a responsible framework that benefits all Pennsylvanians,” he said. “I’m proud to stand in bipartisan partnership to move our Commonwealth forward.”
Laughlin, for his part, said that the introduction of a House companion “will accomplish two things: It will prove the House has the ability to pass our language, and it will give me the opportunity to sit down with the governor and Senate leaders to discuss if a tax increase to balance the budget is more palatable than cannabis revenue.”
“I firmly believe that if the House passes our language, that we have a path to get this done,” he said.
Street told GoErie that the bill is about “justice, jobs and responsible regulation.”
“This plan legalizes cannabis in a way that lifts up communities impacted by prohibition,” he said. “It includes expungement of low-level offenses, creates real opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses and reinvests in neighborhoods most harmed by past enforcement.”
The senators described the basic framework they’re proposing in a cosponsorship memo in February. The measure as introduced is also supported by four other senators, all Democrats.
The memo points out the economic opportunity of enacting a regulated and taxed system of marijuana sales—benefits that they note are already being reaped in surrounding states that have moved to legalize.
Here’s the summary of the new bill:
“An Act providing for cannabis; regulating the personal use and possession of cannabis; establishing the Cannabis Control Board; providing for powers and duties of the Cannabis Control Board; establishing the Cannabis Regulation Fund; providing for disproportionately impacted area, for regulation of cannabis business establishments, for enforcement and immunities, for laboratory testing, for advertising, marketing, packaging and labeling and for preparation, destruction and regulation of cannabis, edible and infused products; imposing a sales tax and excise tax on cannabis, edible and infused products; establishing the Cannabis Regulation Fund; providing for cannabis clean slate and for miscellaneous provisions; imposing penalties; consolidating provisions relating to medical use of cannabis; transferring powers and duties of the Department of Health to the Cannabis Control Board; and making repeals.”
Separately, Laughlin and 16 other lawmakers recently filed a separate bill to create a new regulatory body in the state that would begin overseeing medical cannabis while preparing to eventually handle the adult-use market as well.
Laughlin previewed the measure in May, writing that Pennsylvania should first take steps to make sure the state is “ready to act when legalization becomes law” by establishing a Cannabis Control Board (CCB) now.
Street, who is also one of the original cosponsors of the bill, said recently that he was working with bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers to develop a passable marijuana legalization measure as the legislature approached a budget deadline—telling supporters at the time that “we’re getting close” and they shouldn’t “ease up” on the fight.
“There are some basic things that we know we need to have done,” he said. “We need to make sure when we pass a recreational adult-use bill that we seal and expunge the records of all those people who’ve been who’ve had cannabis convictions in the past.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) previewed that marijuana legalization would not be included in the 2026 budget as lawmakers approached the deadline he expected they would miss. Ahead of the deadline, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) held out hope that negotiators can “get it done.”
“We’ve had really good, honest dialogue about it,” the governor, who separately criticized the Senate for abruptly derailing the House marijuana legalization bill, said.
“Look, I think this is an issue of competitiveness,” he said. “Every state around us, with the exception of West Virginia, has gotten it done. You go visit some of these dispensaries along our border—in this case with Maryland, [that] is probably the closest one here. Sixty percent of the people walking into those dispensaries are from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Also, in May, Sen. Marty Flynn (D) announced his intent to file a new bill to legalize marijuana in the state, calling on colleagues to join him on the measure.
While the House legislation Krajewski sponsored alongside Rep. Dan Frankel (D) was rejected in a Senate committee 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.”
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.
Krajewski, for example, recently wrote in a Marijuana Moment op-ed that Senate Republicans who killed his House-passed cannabis legalization bill are “stuck in their prohibitionist views of the past” and are “out of touch with the will of our Commonwealth.”
Prior to that vote, 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.
GOP lawmaker Major—who is sponsoring another forthcoming legalization bill that envisions a traditional private sales model alongside Democrat Kinkead—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.
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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