On Tuesday, a D.C. Council committee is scheduled to take up the Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act of 2013 – a bill that would allow for the sale, taxation and regulation of legal marijuana in the District.
With scant weeks remaining in the D.C. Council session, the fact that the Committee on Business, Regulatory and Consumer Affairs would spend time marking up a lengthy, complex bill would seem to indicate that lawmakers are on the fastest of tracks to give D.C. residents and visitors the opportunity to purchase marijuana in the wake of the Nov. 4 passage of a legalization initiative.
"We have to strike while the iron is hot," Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), the committee's chairman, said Thursday. "From all I've heard, the Hill is not going to expend their political capital messing with our marijuana bills. So I think we shouldn't piecemeal it. We should send it all up at once.
"All" of it would mean, Orange says, the transmittal to Congress of the initiative itself, the tax-and-regulate bill (the subject of an October hearing), and a third bill introduced by Orange that would prohibit employers for testing job applicants for marijuana before a job offer is extended.
Orange's enthusiasm notwithstanding, it doesn't appear that package will be headed to Capitol Hill intact. Other committees must mark up the two bills – including the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, which is set to move another major piece of legislation next week, the permanent version of the bill permitting some residents to legally carry handguns in the city.
"We're doing the gun bill," said Wells, who leaves office Jan. 2. "I just don't see how we could get this bill marked up and ready to go in time. They don't lose a whole lot by waiting till the next session."
Wells's skepticism was shared by Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who said he had concerns about rushing through a marijuana-sales bill – among them, the relative pricing of legal marijuana and so-called "synthetic marijuana," a product thought to be more dangerous which could end up being cheaper than "natural" weed.
"The council needs to look very carefully at what the economic factors are," Mendelson said, also expressing concerns about the "political acceptability of a licensing and taxing scheme."
Mendelson said he is also in no rush to send the initiative itself for congressional review. There is no sense, he said, in transmitting the bill before the new Congress gavels to order because the 30-legislative-day review period resets when a congressional term ends.
Orange said Thursday he's not willing to wait on his colleagues. Wells, he said in a text message, "needs to get busy and take care of business. ... There is no excuse not to get this done now. Just do it!" If not, he said, he's willing to pursue emergency legislation, a temporary bill which does not require committee action, before the end of the year.
News Moderator: Shandar @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis
Author: Mike DeBonis
Contact: https://www.washingtonpost.com/actmgmt/help/
Website: Little chance D.C. Council acts on marijuana sales by year?s end - The Washington Post
With scant weeks remaining in the D.C. Council session, the fact that the Committee on Business, Regulatory and Consumer Affairs would spend time marking up a lengthy, complex bill would seem to indicate that lawmakers are on the fastest of tracks to give D.C. residents and visitors the opportunity to purchase marijuana in the wake of the Nov. 4 passage of a legalization initiative.
"We have to strike while the iron is hot," Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), the committee's chairman, said Thursday. "From all I've heard, the Hill is not going to expend their political capital messing with our marijuana bills. So I think we shouldn't piecemeal it. We should send it all up at once.
"All" of it would mean, Orange says, the transmittal to Congress of the initiative itself, the tax-and-regulate bill (the subject of an October hearing), and a third bill introduced by Orange that would prohibit employers for testing job applicants for marijuana before a job offer is extended.
Orange's enthusiasm notwithstanding, it doesn't appear that package will be headed to Capitol Hill intact. Other committees must mark up the two bills – including the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, which is set to move another major piece of legislation next week, the permanent version of the bill permitting some residents to legally carry handguns in the city.
"We're doing the gun bill," said Wells, who leaves office Jan. 2. "I just don't see how we could get this bill marked up and ready to go in time. They don't lose a whole lot by waiting till the next session."
Wells's skepticism was shared by Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who said he had concerns about rushing through a marijuana-sales bill – among them, the relative pricing of legal marijuana and so-called "synthetic marijuana," a product thought to be more dangerous which could end up being cheaper than "natural" weed.
"The council needs to look very carefully at what the economic factors are," Mendelson said, also expressing concerns about the "political acceptability of a licensing and taxing scheme."
Mendelson said he is also in no rush to send the initiative itself for congressional review. There is no sense, he said, in transmitting the bill before the new Congress gavels to order because the 30-legislative-day review period resets when a congressional term ends.
Orange said Thursday he's not willing to wait on his colleagues. Wells, he said in a text message, "needs to get busy and take care of business. ... There is no excuse not to get this done now. Just do it!" If not, he said, he's willing to pursue emergency legislation, a temporary bill which does not require committee action, before the end of the year.
News Moderator: Shandar @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis
Author: Mike DeBonis
Contact: https://www.washingtonpost.com/actmgmt/help/
Website: Little chance D.C. Council acts on marijuana sales by year?s end - The Washington Post
