Gov. Phil Murphy said he’s “optimistic” about finalizing a deal on a long-awaited bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in New Jersey, but he has no timeline on when that will happen or when lawmakers will vote on the measure.
“We’re still trying to machine this to get it over the goal line, but I think we’re all working really hard to get this done,” Murphy said at an unrelated press conference in Piscataway late Tuesday morning.
An agreement on marijuana legalization in New Jersey isn’t yet complete, and despite recent progress and optimism, there’s still not a timetable for a vote.
Reports were published Friday night that a deal had finally been reached on one of Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign promises and first-year priorities. But after signing an unrelated law Tuesday expanding New Jersey’s paid family leave program, Murphy indicated to reporters that work on the issue continues.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy and Democratic legislative leaders in New Jersey have reached an agreement that could place the state on a path to legalizing recreational marijuana this year if they are able to win enough support in the state legislature.
The agreement, which establishes how marijuana would be taxed and sets parameters on a committee to regulate the drug, marks a significant step forward for Mr. Murphy’s promise to introduce the roughly $50 billion national recreational cannabis market to a major population center on the East Coast and on New York City’s doorstep.
But you may want to wait before you go out and buy that vape pen or box of EZ Wider papers. Holdouts, led by Newark’s Sen. Ron Rice, say legal weed will be a death knell to communities of color where drugs and crime have made economic development impossible.
“I’m still a no. Every day there is new information about why we shouldn’t do this,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “This is about money, it’s not about social justice. Why should we pass something that makes money for investors on the backs of black and brown people?”
While the parties are closer than ever to a deal on legalization of cannabis, it’s unlikely all the details – and ayes – will be nailed down for a vote on Feb. 21.
Governor Phil Murphy, State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin have reportedly reached agreement on two major issues that have held up passage of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory and Expungement Aid Modernization Act (S2703), the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act (S10) and s3205, which revises certain procedures for expungement of records of conviction.
New Jersey is poised to legalize adult-use marijuana within weeks, after Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislative leaders reportedly reached a tentative agreement on how to regulate and tax the program.
Murphy and state Senate President Steve Sweeney, both Democrats, had been deadlocked on a tax rate, with Murphy favoring a high retail sales rate.
The agreement reportedly calls for a sales tax based on weight or quantity, such as per ounce of marijuana sold.
A Monmouth University poll finds more than 6 in 10 New Jersey residents support legalizing marijuana and half say a current proposal to make it happen is a good idea. This as legislators say they are closer to an agreement.
Pot? Or not?
The stalemate between Gov. Phil Murphy and other state leaders over marijuana appears to have been broken. The primary sponsor of the bill to legalize says they have reached a deal on how to tax and regulate the drug, CBS2’s Meg Baker reported Monday.
Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders have reached a broad agreement on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey, according to four sources familiar with the negotiations.
“The consensus on the broad strokes is relatively fresh, so the details are still being worked out,” one source with direct knowledge of the talks told POLITICO.
State Sen. Nicholas Scutari played a key role in the negotiations, the source said. The Union County Democrat could not immediately be reached for comment Friday evening.
The debate in New Jersey over how and when cannabis could or should be legalized continues to take place in Trenton. Earlier this year, sentiment began to grow for the first time that if progress was not made, legalization could potentially be turned over to a ballot question. Cannabis could still be legalized through a ballot question, but that would be a more complicated legislative process that would be delayed until possibly 2020.
One possible compromise would scrap the sales tax, which fluctuates based on price point, and instead tax cannabis by weight. That way Murphy and Sweeney save face, and New Jersey avoids what befell Oregon, where nosediving cannabis prices crashed revenue projections.
State leaders are also squabbling over the commission that’ll regulate legal cannabis sales.