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.
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.”
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.
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, a Democrat, spoke Wednesday at the state League of Municipalities annual conference in Atlantic City. Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney said afterward he also plans a committee vote this month.
It's the latest timeline on an issue that moved to the forefront when Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy took office in January.
Another month has gone by, another "deadline" has been missed and another state has voted to legalize weed before New Jersey.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, set a goal of voting on legal weed by Oct. 29. It was the fourth "deadline" missed by the Legislature, which creeps closer to missing Gov. Phil Murphy's vow of legalizing marijuana before year's end.
Now, legislators are targeting the Monday after Thanksgiving as the next milepost in the push for legal marijuana in New Jersey.
But don't bank on it.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney said recently that legislative reform of the state’s public workers’ pension and health insurance plans will make New Jersey a more affordable place to live.
You know what else the state can do to make living here less like doing hard time on taxation island? Follow through on the promise to legalize recreational marijuana and use the additional revenue to provide some relief to taxpayers.
We realize it won’t alleviate all of New Jersey’s tax woes, but it sure could help.
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.