A New Jersey Assembly committee on Friday advanced a bill outlining non-criminal penalties for minors who possess marijuana, a bill Democratic lawmakers hope will appease Gov. Phil Murphy and get him to sign legalization and decriminalization bills already sitting on his desk.
Meanwhile, in a legislative twist, an opponent of legalization introduced a bill that supporters had long sought allowing residents to grow their own marijuana plants, assuming Murphy does sign the bill creating New Jersey's marijuana market.
Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen, is the primary sponsor of S3407, introduced Thursday. The bill legalizes possession of six or fewer marijuana plants once Murphy signs a legalization bill into law.
Medical marijuana patients have long called for the state to allow them to grow their own plants. The strained medical cannabis program in New Jersey has led to high prices and product shortages, and those who want to grow their own medicine see it as a work around for the program’s hurdles.
Update: Citing fluid negotiations, an administration official said they do not expect vetoes tomorrow as of Thursday evening.
The Senate will not concur with conditional vetoes Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to make on marijuana legalization and decriminalization bills Friday, Senate President Steve Sweeney told the New Jersey Globe Thursday afternoon.
“If the governor CVs the bills on his desk, we’re starting brand new. I will not concur with a CV,” Sweeney said. “I can’t make it any clearer than that, and I’ve made the administration understand that too.”
Fix the bill after it’s passed?
“I understand the governor’s concerns — I actually agree with him — but we just didn’t have the votes to get it done,” said Scutari, who has been trying to legalize marijuana in New Jersey for a decade. “But there comes a time when we need to get this moving. There are many things we’re going to have to go back and fix later.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has set a deadline for Friday to reach an agreement with legislative leaders on cannabis legalization and decriminalization legislation that was sent to his desk last month.
Murphy has objected to inconsistent language in both bills that eliminated penalties for underage individuals caught in possession of the drug. If the administration hasn’t brokered a compromise on a clean-up bill before Friday, the governor plans to conditionally veto the measure.
We’re about two weeks from the deadline for Gov. Murphy to act on the weed legalization and decriminalization bills on his desk, and negotiations to date haven’t gotten far.
Feb. 8 is the drop dead date, as that’s the first quorum in the Assembly — where both bills originated — after the bill has been on Murphy’s desk for 45 days.
The administration has held conference calls with lawmakers, most recently the Assembly’s Black members. But they haven’t been fruitful.
Gov. Phil Murphy reiterated his reasoning as to why the legal status of marijuana remains in limbo Wednesday afternoon. He did not offer any new information.
“There are two principles that have guided us on this,” Murphy said. “No. 1: The last thing any of us wants is our kids getting tied up in the criminal justice system, especially kids of color. Secondly, the voters voted to legalize adult-use marijuana. It said it right on the referendum: It’s 21 or up.
“Getting both those principles respected is not an easy process.”
The language of the proposal specifically stated that the “growth, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, preparing, packaging, transferring, and retail purchasing and consumption of cannabis…shall be lawful.”
The catch is that the voter-approved amendment also said these activities shall also be “subject to regulation by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission” and the commission’s “regulatory authority concerning legalized cannabis shall be authorized by law enacted by the Legislature.”
Though legislators soundly sent legalization and decriminalization bills to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk last month, the governor has yet to sign it, concerned over a lack of penalties for underage use.
The two camps reached an agreement on a cleanup bill that would limit youth enforcement to curbside warnings and stationhouse adjustments — essentially talks with police officers — but that measure died when Senate sponsors pulled their support after members of the Legislative Black Caucus warned the bill would negatively impact youths in Black and Brown communities.
About two-thirds of Garden State voters approved a ballot measure in November to legalize recreational use of marijuana for residents 21 years old or older.
Both houses of the legislature signed off on the constitutional amendment last month.
But Murphy balked at signing the new law on Jan. 1, claiming the measure lacks language on enforcement details for underage marijuana users, according to NJ.com.