Lawmakers will begin voting next week on legalizing marijuana for adults over age 21 in New Jersey, according to Senate President Stephen Sweeney's office.
State Assembly and Senate committees will hold a hearing and then vote on a legalization bill on Monday, Nov. 26 at 10 a.m., according to Sweeney's office. The site of the hearing and the vote was not immediately clear.
The legislation would then need the votes of the full Assembly and Senate, and then Gov. Phil Murphy's signature, in order to become law.
After months of delay and backroom disputes, state lawmakers are expected to finally begin voting next week on legalizing marijuana for adults over age 21 in New Jersey.
And it's getting the fast-track treatment, even though legislative leaders and Gov. Phil Murphy remain at odds over details of the legislation.
Separate state Assembly and Senate committees will meet together for a hearing of debate and are expected to vote on the legalization bill on Monday, Nov. 26 at 10 a.m., according to sources familiar with the plan.
A draft of legislation submitted to Gov. Phil Murphy last week held taxes on recreational sales at 12 percent, which would make New Jersey‘s tax rate one of the lowest among states with a legal cannabis program, according to three sources with knowledge of the most recent draft. Local governments would be able to impose a separate excise tax on sales of up to 2 percent.
Earlier this year, administration officials said they’d like to see recreational marijuana taxed at around 25 percent — a rate legislative leaders said would allow the drug’s underground market to thrive.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has targeted Nov. 26 for a committee vote on legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis, expand the medical marijuana program and provide social justice.
“We’ll have [a bill] out of both committees by the end of the month,” Sweeney told reporters at the League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City on Nov. 14. “There’s a medical bill. There’s an adult-use bill. And there’s a separate social justice piece that Sen. [Sandra] Cunningham is doing. We want to do all of them together.”
At League of Municipalities conference, it’s clear that getting votes for tokes is going to take more than just lining up legislators
Marijuana cultivation
State Senate President Steve Sweeney has drawn a line in the sand regarding adult-use marijuana legalization, but local leaders have their own recommendations and concerns.
“We’ll have (a bill) out of both committees by the end of the month,” Sweeney told reporters at the League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City, meaning a legislative debate on the subject could begin within days.
With less than two weeks to go before Thanksgiving, it’s looking less and less likely New Jersey will legalize recreational pot before the end of this year.
Gov. Phil Murphy had made legalizing marijuana one of his front-burner issues when he took office last January. But negotiations on a legislative package have stalled.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, who must sign off on any marijuana bill that’s put up for a vote, is making it clear he’s drawn a line in the sand over how much the state should tax recreational weed.
Democratic leaders in the New Jersey legislature say they are “real close” to holding hearings on the legalization of adult-use cannabis, NJBIZ.com reports.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-District 3) said on Monday he has been coordinating the issue with Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-District 22), the leading cannabis advocate in New Jersey’s legislature.
Despite a complicated November schedule which includes the midterm elections, Sen. Scutari told reporters that he was eyeing November 26 for a cannabis legalization legislative hearing.
Two top lawmakers, State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, are now expecting to get something voted on – and passed – by the end of the year, Patch has learned.
The lawmakers apparently still need to iron out their differences with what the Murphy administration wants. It wasn't exactly clear at press time what all those differences were, but Patch has learned that Sweeney and Murphy differ on the amount of the tax. Sweeney has said that the tax should be no more than 12 percent.
It's mid-October, and one of the priorities since January for Gov. Phil Murphy and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney -- passing a law legalizing marijuana use for people 21 and older in New Jersey -- is still the subject of painstaking private negotiations.
This week, Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Murphy, a fellow Democrat, engaged in some trans-Atlantic finger-pointing over who is responsible for the delay.
Murphy says there will be several pieces to the legalization bill, including expanding medical marijuana coverage and legalizing some recreational use.
"Most importantly this is social justice. We have the largest white/non-white gap of persons incarcerated in America. Low end drug crimes are not the only reason, but it's a big driving part of the reason. We aren't inventing marijuana, it exists right now,” Murphy said.