House and Senate Appropriators approved large-scale spending bills for the year that include, once again, language protecting state medical cannabis programs, along with a controversial amendment to prevent Washington, D.C. implementing a regulated marijuana sale system.
On Thursday, the Senate and House Appropriations Committees both marked up Fiscal Year 2024 expenditure legislation for Financial Services and General Government. The Senate panel, along with a House Subcommittee, has also advanced its appropriations measures.
House members rejected a GOP amendment that was made to the chamber’s FSGG Report. The GOP amendment would have required the federal government take steps to examine other state cannabis regulatory frameworks and to develop a national legalization scheme.
The use of appropriations as a vehicle for cannabis reform has been attempted by lawmakers with mixed results. Even though Democrats controlled both chambers during the last session, efforts were stalled following bicameral negotiations to expand protections for marijuana to all states that are legal and to enact limited banking reforms.
Since 2014, the rider protecting state medical cannabis programs against federal interference has been renewed annually. This Congress, both chambers have agreed to maintain this language in their respective base legislation as it advances.
The summary of the Senate Appropriations Committee states. This inaccurately describes the scope of this provision which does not change the legal status of cannabis but restricts federal officials’ ability to enforce the laws.
The Senate panel stated that “patients and doctors who are in states which have approved medical marijuana should know that they will not be arrested or prosecuted by the federal authorities.”
To the disappointment of reform advocates, both the Democratic-controlled Senate and GOP House also maintained a rider in their respective bills that’s long blocked the District of Columbia from using its local tax dollars to enact a system of regulated adult-use marijuana sales, despite voters in the District approving legalization of possession and home cultivation at the ballot in 2014.
The budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 that President Joe Biden released in March also kept the D.C. Rider for the third consecutive year.
Separately the House, under Democratic control, added to previous CJS spending legislation language that sought an expansion of protections against Justice Department intervention in state and tribal adult use marijuana programs. However, now that Republicans have taken over, they did not include this provision in the bill base that was advanced by subcommittee Friday. This reform was not included in the Democratic Senate version of the bill that advanced Thursday. No members also offered amendments.
The FSGG bill did not include any language that would protect financial institutions against being penalized for simply working with state-legal cannabis businesses. House passed a limited appropriations bill to prevent the Treasury Department from punishing banks that serve the marijuana industry. However, it was never included in the final package. The much more robust Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act is currently in legislative limbo , as Senate Democrats and Republicans argue over a single subsection on banking industry regulation.
The House and Senate Appropriators have also included a long-standing clause in their CJS base bills to protect state hemp programs against federal interference.
The Senate CJS report also directs the Drug Enforcement Administration to continue working with local and state law enforcement agencies on the distribution of field-testing kit that can differentiate federally legal hemp or marijuana.
The passage states: “The Committee knows that DEA has developed kits for field testing that can differentiate between hemp and marijuana immediately.” The Committee directs DEA to continue working to ensure State- and local-level law enforcement has access to this technology for drug interdiction at the local level. The Committee also directs the DEA not to report to it less than six months after the enactment date of the act and no later than 180 day following the enactment.
Despite the support of fellow Republicans, the Committee rejected the novel cannabis amendment filed by the Congressional Cannabis Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Dave Joyce on Thursday.
The congressman’s amendment to the Report would have asked the White House to coordinate an assessment of the adequacy of the cannabis regulatory frameworks of these states, including the commonalities and innovative approaches to enforcement and supervision.
This is what Joyce and House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffreys (D-NY) are also trying to achieve with a separate bill named the Prepare Regulators Effectively For a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act, which they submitted in April. The bill would also require that the attorney general create a panel of representatives from various agencies in order to prepare the federal government for legalization.
Joyce, at the Thursday markup, said that “we as legislators will be better equipped” to consider policies which align tax frameworks while improving public health and safety. “Each state did this independently.” “Some states have achieved better results than others.”
He added, “We need to have a similar regulatory framework. I ask that you gather information from other states to allow us to examine it if cannabis becomes legal in all 50 states.”
Rep. Tom Cole, (R-OK), voiced his support for the congressman’s amendment. He said that the widely criticised rollout of Oklahoma’s medical cannabis program highlights the need to understand which regulatory models work.
Cole stated, “I think my friend’s amendement is very important. It’s about having adequate information and understanding what the regulatory issues really are. This is a thoughtful and helpful way to do it, because we have no choice but to deal with this issue. Understanding the best way to regulate and deal with this issue, and educating the public on it, is a valuable contribution.
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-NV, also spoke about the amendment. He said that, while he found it “a little thin” in details, it represents “a step forward.” However, the measure failed in a voice vote, and there was not enough support for a formal roll call.
This is the complete text of the amendment:
The Committee is aware that more than 20 states now allow the use adult-use cannabis and over 35 states permit cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes. The Committee urges the Executive Office of the president, in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and other agencies that may have regulatory expertise, to coordinate an evaluation of the adequacy of the cannabis regulatory frameworks of these states, including novel approaches to enforcement and supervision.
A second cannabis provision in the House CJS Bill prevents limitations on overtime reimbursements for law enforcement participating in a federal initiative to eradicate illegally-grown marijuana in states which have legalized it.
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The Senate Appropriations Committee released a report on a spending bill that covers Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies. This report calls for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to allow veterans access to medical marijuana and investigate the therapeutic potential of psychoedelics.
Separately on Thursday, Republican leadership of the House Rules Committee prevented numerous cannabis and psychedelics amendments being considered for the National Defense Authorization Act.
House Committee rejects GOP-Led amendment to ask Biden to prepare for federal marijuana legalization by studying states
House and Senate both move to keep blocking D.C. Marijuana sales but protecting state medical cannabis laws appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
