Marijuana Bill’s stall in Virginia’s GOP-controlled home

Efforts to streamline Virginia’s cannabis laws have hit an impasse in the state General Assembly when a senior Republican lawmaker said last week the clock is ticking for lawmakers to get something done before the session ends.

As reported by the Associated Press, Virginia House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore said last week that he does not expect the House to vote on its own measures before Tuesday’s deadline for each chamber to complete work on its own legislation can.

“We want to do it right. There’s a lot of regulation, enforcement … so there’s just a lot of questions and you’re running out of time,” Kilgore said last Wednesday, as quoted by the AP.

Kilgore’s Republican colleague Todd Gilbert, Speaker of the House, was more outspoken in his assessment of the situation.

The whole room is a little bit messy right now,” Gilbert told the AP.

Virginia last year became the first Southern state to legalize adult-use recreational marijuana — but that was at a time when the Commonwealth had a Democratic governor and the party controlled the General Assembly.

Now, a year later, the state is led by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, while the GOP controls the House of Representatives. Democrats continue to control the Senate.

Virginia’s cannabis laws have been in the spotlight for months

Youngkin said last month before taking office that he “would not seek to repeal the personal possession law,” but expressed concern about the upcoming commercialization of cannabis in Virginia, which isn’t scheduled to begin until 2024.

“When it comes to commercialization, I think there is still a lot to do. I’m not against it, but there’s still work to be done,” Youngkin told Virginia Business. “There are some non-starters, including the forced unionization that is in the current bill. Law enforcement officials have raised concerns about how the loophole in the laws will actually be enforced. Finally, it is imperative to ensure that we are not promoting an anti-competitive industry. I understand there are preferences to ensure all participants in the industry are qualified to do the industry well.”

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Republicans there have “tabled at least eight bills calling for amendments to the law that would legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults and lay the groundwork for retail sales to begin in 2024.” .

GOP lawmakers “were drafting legislation that would bring forward the start date for retail sales and eliminate a provision that would prioritize licensing for those convicted of marijuana crimes,” according to the AP.

But now that the Virginia General Assembly is halfway through the current session, Republicans and Democrats are running out of time to reach an agreement.

The AP reported Thursday that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have “expressed support for pushing back the date for retail sales to try to stem growth in the illicit market,” but that “the two sides disagree agree on how to reinvest tax revenues from marijuana sales or on social justice provisions that would provide benefits in the marijuana business licensing process to people and communities harmed by legacy marijuana laws.”

The law, signed last year by then-Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, “required that 30% of tax revenue go to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, which would channel the money to mostly minority communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.” ‘ according to the AP, which noted that a bill introduced by the Republican leader in the Senate this year would have instead funneled that money into the state’s general fund, but the proposal was defeated by Democrats in the chamber.