This state may become the 12th nationwide to legalize marijuana—but not until November 2020, when the state’s voters will decide the issue after legislators abandoned efforts during a lame-duck session to approve the issue after two years of political wrangling.
While some top political leaders held out hope of passage—including Gov. Phil Murphy—the state Senate, which fell a few votes short of passage in March, again was reported to lack a majority in favor of recreational marijuana.
That leaves the highly contentious issue in voters’ hands during a 2020 presidential election race likely to result in heavy voter turnout due to intense interest in President Donald Trump’s reelection bid.
On Nov. 18, State Senate President Democrat Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Democratic state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the legalization bill’s sponsor, said there still weren’t enough votes to pass the legislation in the Senate, though Assembly backers said it could pass the Assembly.
Twenty-one votes are needed for passage in the 40-member Senate and 41 in the 80-member Assembly.