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State lawmakers on Thursday brought forward legislation that would launch a legal marijuana industry in New Jersey, but the plan to get it through both houses of the legislature on Monday collapsed amid differences between the two. bills of the Senate and the Assembly.
The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee approved the law (S-21 / A-21), 8-4, Thursday after nearly three hours of testimony. The Senate Budget and Supply Committee voted 8-4 with three abstentions to pass the bill just before 6 p.m.
But the bills that came out of the committees did not match up, with the Senate committee voting to remove a provision that would limit the number of licenses for growers in the early years of the marijuana industry and making a few other changes.
The drafters of the legislation in both houses will have to make deals to pass the vote to all floors and transfer it to Gov. Phil Murphy’s office for signature.
“We are considering the Senate amendments,” said Kevin McArdle, spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, in a statement Thursday evening. “We have no further comments at this time.”
They had hoped to hold voting sessions to pass the bill next week, but without full consensus the bill will be delayed again. Senate Speaker Stephen Sweeney canceled Monday’s Senate voting session on Thursday evening.
Legislation is needed to implement a voting question voted on by voters on November 3, which changes the state’s constitution.
There is an urgent need to pass the 216-page bill and have it signed by Murphy before the constitutional amendment goes into effect on January 1.
“We have to get there by the end of the year,” Senator Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, who sponsored the legislation, said at the assembly hearing. “If we don’t do that, we’re going to run into a myriad of other problems.”
Both houses of the Legislature had added amendments to generate more revenue for programs in minority communities, expand protections for workers who use marijuana in their spare time, and increase the number of licenses for growers. marijuana that could be issued in the early years of the marijuana industry by Thursday morning.
The two chambers agreed earlier on Thursday to increase the number of marijuana growers who can be licensed in the first two years of a legal market from 28 to 37, with the exception of micro or small farms with 10 employees. or less.
But the Senate committee voted Thursday night to completely remove restrictions on the number of producers that would be allowed to enter the market.
Scutari and Murphy’s office had reached an agreement to remove the limits on Wednesday, but the Assembly had not yet arrived on board.
This is not the first obstacle to the legalization bill. He was at a standstill last week when some lawmakers and advocates criticized him for failing to redirect tax revenues to communities affected by decades of marijuana arrests. An amendment to address these concerns adds an additional tax on marijuana growers, which will only increase when the price per ounce declines over time.
“I think we have found a very ingenious way to raise funds, but to continue to allow the market to develop and hopefully be competitive with the illicit market,” said Scutari.
Some advocated keeping the tax rate low to avoid the sticker shock that would drive consumers back to drug dealers with better prices. But others worry that a low sales tax may not make enough money to become a meaningful source of income.
“It has come a long way in terms of adding the social equity tax,” said Reverend Charles Boyer, founder of Salvation and Social Justice, which focuses on issues such as racial equity and reform. prisons, during the hearing of the Assembly.
But he said he was concerned that the language around tax allowances was not strong enough, and should be changed from “may” to “must” to preserve those funds and lock them into funding restoration programs instead of. general fund.
“The way it’s designed is, at best, a possibility, not a guarantee,” he said.
The Senate amendment sought to change that, by allocating 70% of sales tax revenue to community programs, as well as the entire producer tax. The remaining 30% of sales tax would support training of drug recognition experts for law enforcement agencies to prevent impaired driving and fund the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. He would no longer direct the money to the general fund.
The commission would make recommendations on how to spend these funds in impact zones, and the legislature is expected to endorse those recommendations in both bills. The funds would go to legal aid, former inmate reintegration programs, mentorship, recreation and GOL assistance.
Another amendment to both bills empowered the Cannabis Regulatory Commission to create a new category of license and certify experts in workplace disability recognition to identify whether a person can be high while they are work.
During the Senate hearing, Senator Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, said the House version of the bill would be amended to allow for broader drug testing by employers, including random drug testing. employees as well as when an employer suspects a worker is under the influence.
Several who testified on the bill on Thursday said they had yet to see the amendments from either house, many of which became public that morning and changed throughout the day. They implored lawmakers not to vote until they could comment directly on the changes.
Although the changes answered some questions about taxation, the amount that can be raised remains unknown. Murphy’s office estimated the state could see $ 450 million in annual revenue in a fully realized market.
“None of us really know how much this will generate, because we don’t know what that market will be,” said MP John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, who chaired the Assembly’s appropriations committee. “We have to be careful not to place such a heavy burden on the product that it cannot find its way to market.”
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee was 6-1 with three abstentions. It has been corrected to show that the committee voted 8-4.
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Amanda Hoover can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.
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