State lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday on one of two proposals to decriminalize weed and curb arrests that disproportionately impact Black people.
The state Assembly will convene for a session at 11 a.m. and is scheduled to vote on A1897, a measure that advanced from a committee hearing Monday. It seeks to replace arrests for possessing up to two ounces of weed with a civil fine of $50, and also lessens jail time and fines for possession of larger amounts of pot on a sliding scale.
Lawmakers merged the bill with another, A4269, on Monday, moving it quickly after months of delays. Assembly members first said they would work on a new decriminalization bill in November, not long after the state Legislature abandoned efforts to legalize marijuana and moved instead to put it up for voters to decide on a ballot question in November.
But for more than six months, no legislation came. Then, in early June, amid nationwide civil protests calling for an end to police brutality and mass incarceration, state senators introduced a sweeping decriminalization bill. If passed, it would halt arrests for people possessing up to one pound of weed. It has not been heard in a committee yet.