A marijuana legalization bill backed by Democrats and passed last week by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will not make it to a vote in the state Senate after a Republican-led panel rejected the bill Tuesday, calling the proposed state store model unworkable.
The Senate Law & Justice Committee voted 7-3 to kill the legislation sponsored by state Reps. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia) and Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny). The proposal made it out of the Democratic-controlled House on a 102-101 party line vote Thursday but was expected to hit a wall in the Republican-led Senate.
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“I have said repeatedly that a state-store model for adult-use cannabis will not pass the Senate. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact,” Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), who chairs the Law & Justice Committee, said in a statement Tuesday.
Laughlin has proposed bills to legalize adult-use marijuana with a private industry model during past legislative sessions but has not introduced a revised version of that plan this year. He called the state store bill a “a political move meant to shift blame for inaction” on marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania.
In each of the last few years, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has urged lawmakers to advance a legalization bill to his desk that will enable Pennsylvania to capture millions of dollars in tax revenue that’s being lost to neighboring states.
Krajewski and Frankel’s bill called for Pennsylvania to become the first state to administer sales of recreational marijuana at state-run retail. The lawmakers argued that the private cannabis industry in other states has made it too difficult for small businesses — especially those led by Black and Brown owners — to compete in the retail space for marijuana. The proposal aimed to put the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in charge of the market for recreational marijuana and sell it at Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores as a way to maximize revenue.
Among other measures, the bill also called for the automatic expungement of records of low-level marijuana offenses and reinvestment of revenue in restorative justice programs.
Laughlin said Tuesday that the state store model would require too much of an up-front public investment. He also said the state has more pressing issues to address regarding marijuana, including reform of the medical marijuana system and reining in unregulated THC products. Laughlin has called for creating a Cannabis Control Board to oversee matters related to existing and future marijuana regulation.
The Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, which represents medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, called the state store proposal a “missed opportunity” to build on the state’s existing industry.
“Excluding the current industry from a future adult-use market risks delaying safe access, weakening consumer confidence, and unintentionally supporting the illicit market,” Meredith Buettner Schneider, PCC’s executive director, said last week.
A recent survey commissioned by Responsible PA, which also represents the private cannabis industry, found that 74% of Pennsylvania voters are in favor of legalizing adult-use marijuana. When voters were asked which retail model would be best for the state, 57% said they prefer a private industry model compared with just 25% who favored marijuana being sold at state-run stores.
The proposal backed by Democrats passed the House last week but was shot down in a Republican-led committee vote Tuesday. Read More
