The Mile Square City is set to get together Monday evening to figure out what will be going in and where if and when New Jersey lawmakers move ahead with recreational marijuana legalization.
Mayor Ravi Bhalla's current plan calls for three establishments, whether they be a retail store, dispensary or a cultivation facility, in the more industrial parts of town. They would be prohibited from going in any residential zones.
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.
City officials will hold a community meeting on Monday to discuss the local regulation of marijuana if -- or, more accurately, when -- state officials legalize the drug.
The community meeting will be held at the Jubilee Center at 601 Jackson St. on Monday at 6:30 p.m. Members of the council's zoning subcommittee requested the meeting be held before voting on an ordinance introduced by Mayor Ravi Bhalla's administration in order to gauge public opinion on the matter.
The ordinance, originally on the Oct. 17 council meeting agenda, was pulled.
That’s the number of votes New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney needs to pass a bill to legalize marijuana.
He is apparently one vote closer – a big vote – when Senator Joseph Vitale told NJ Advance Media that he is leaning “yes.”
This excerpt is from Governor Phil Murphy’s address to the League Delegates Luncheon of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities Annual Conference in Atlantic City on Nov. 15:
I remain equally committed to sensible legislation to legalize adult use marijuana, and to continue to expand our medical marijuana program, which can also be an important tool to fighting our opioid epidemic.
From economic to social justice, the focus of “Greening Up the Garden State: Responsible Cannabis Policy N.J.” was almost 180 degrees from some of the dire opinions and questions asked at “Marijuana Legalization: A State & Local Perspective.”
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.”
A couple of important votes in the mid-term election haven’t received a lot of attention on the East Coast, but they may point the way to where New Jersey is headed in the near future.
On Nov. 6, voters in three states approved marijuana legalization: Utah and Missouri voters approved legalization of medical marijuana, while Michigan became the first Midwestern state to legalize the recreational variety.
New Jersey is considering both issues right now, and what it decides could have an impact on workplaces throughout the state.
I remain equally committed to sensible legislation to legalize adult use of marijuana, and to continue to expand our medical marijuana program, which can also be an important tool to fighting our opioid epidemic.
I know that some of you have already taken steps in your communities to prevent such sales once I sign a legalization bill into law – and, make no mistake, assuming the Legislature gets it to me, I will.