After nearly two weeks of work, a legislative committee focused on recreational marijuana implementation forwarded a single bill Wednesday to the Senate, up against the looming end of the session.
Three distinct bills went into the committee April 9. By Wednesday, only House Bill 701, by far the largest and most comprehensive, remained. Much of the committee s work revolved around amending the bill, following public comment that included a presentation by Colorado law enforcement and extensive assistance from legislative staff. It s carried by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula.
Lawmakers were hustling to get the bill out of the Senate by Friday so the Senate and House can tussle over the final version in a conference committee before the end of next week, when legislators hope to terminate the 2021 session.
After nearly two weeks of work, a legislative committee focused on recreational marijuana implementation forwarded a single bill Wednesday to the Senate, up against the looming end of the session.
Three distinct bills went into the committee April 9. By Wednesday, only House Bill 701, by far the largest and most comprehensive, remained. Much of the committee s work revolved around amending the bill, following public comment that included a presentation by Colorado law enforcement and extensive assistance from legislative staff. It s carried by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula.
Lawmakers were hustling to get the bill out of the Senate by Friday so the Senate and House can tussle over the final version in a conference committee before the end of next week, when legislators hope to terminate the 2021 session.
Flagship Montana pot bill emerges from Senate committee
Arren Kimbel-Sannit
They may have just missed 4/20, by which point they had hoped to see House Bill 701 hit the floor, but a committee of Senate lawmakers succeeded Wednesday evening in passing a heavily amended version of a bill to implement and tax recreational marijuana in Montana, one of the final priorities of a legislative session nearing its close.
Among the many changes that the Senate Select Committee on Marijuana Laws made to the bill before passing it on a voice vote is to partially restore some funding in the bill for conservation and land easements allocations that existed in Ballot Initiative 190, a legalization proposal that voters approved last year, but that received pushback from Republicans who argued that only the Legislature has the right to make spending decisions, not the voters. The version of the flagship pot bill that emerged from committee Wednesday also allows for limited home-grow of marijuana,
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Former Republican lawmaker Dave Lewis closely tracks what happens under the dome of the Montana Capitol through the 90 days lawmakers fill the building in odd-numbered years, and he s distressed by what s unfolded since the start of the month.
The Legislature, steered by a Republican majority, and the Supreme Court are in an escalating fight. At the end of last week, a newly formed committee led by GOP lawmakers said it would disregard a Supreme Court order and keep seeking emails from the judicial branch they claim show possible misconduct. One branch of government in Montana rejecting the power of another would be unprecedented, except this was the second time it d happened in less than a week.