A newly-unveiled proposal has been given preliminary approval by an Ohio Senate Committee. The proposal is intended to fundamentally change , the state’s marijuana legalization legislation that will take effect this week. The GOP-controlled chamber is advancing legislation that would remove the home-grow option for adults, lower the possession limit, increase the sales tax on marijuana, and redirect funding from social equity programs to law enforcement. Other amendments include THC limits, public use, and other issues.
The Senate General Government Committee, during a 30-minute meeting on Monday, voted by 4-1 to attach a bill passed by the House on alcohol regulation to the cannabis law. The revised legislation includes several provisions that Republican Leaders have preview over the past few weeks, since the voters approved the legalization ballot last month. However, it goes further by proposing criminalizing people who grow cannabis at home.
Matt Huffman, the Republican Senate president, said that he aims to have it passed on the Senate floor by Wednesday. It could then be sent to the House of Representatives for approval. The goal is to have the changes made on an urgent basis before Thursday’s legalization of home cultivation and possession.
Democrats and advocates have already expressed their frustration at the efforts of the leadership to change the voter-initiated law. Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, (R), has insisted that voters only support the principle of legalizing cannabis and not necessarily specific policies such as tax revenues.
Despite the fact that they have made this argument within the context of incremental changes, it is very likely that the idea of removing home grows will generate a lot of pushback due to its importance to Issue 2. This could make it more difficult to pass. A clause of emergency would require to be passed by two-thirds instead of just a majority vote.
The senator said, “The silver lining, in my opinion, of some of this is that marijuana, and the sale of marijuana, has been going on for some time in a dark market,” Rob McColley, who presented the proposed changes told during the committee hearing Monday. This is a chance for Ohio to stamp out the black market as much as possible.
The legislation will also increase the tax on marijuana sales at the point-of-sale from 10% to 15%, and impose a gross receipts tax of 15% on the cultivators.
The law, as approved by the voters, would have directed the marijuana tax revenues to be used for social equity and job programs (36%), localities who allow adult-use cannabis enterprises to operate within their jurisdiction (36%), education and substance abuse programs (25%), and administrative costs associated with implementing the system (3%).
The bill that was attached to the revised version would allocate 30 percent of the revenue to law enforcement training, 15% to substance abuse treatment, 10% to a safe-driving initiative, and the rest to the general fund.
The possession limit would be reduced from 2.5 ounces for adults to 1 ounce. It would also reduce the THC limits from 35 percent in flower to 90 percent in extracts, and 25 percent flower to 50 percent extracts.
The legislation also adds criminal penalties to public consumption of marijuana, restricts marijuana advertising, and reduces the maximum number of cannabis dispensaries to 230 from 350. It also allows localities to ban marijuana growers within their borders.
Let’s see what has worked in the past. Michael Rulli, chairman of the Senate General Government Committee (R), said during his panel’s meeting: “Let’s get a safe product.” “My sole concern is that I want a product that’s safe. I don’t want fentanyl. I don’t want mold…I do want to destroy the black market. I want the people to purchase a safe, quality product. This committee’s goal is to fulfill the wishes of the people with a safe product.
Sen. William DeMora, a Democrat, criticized his Republican colleagues’ proposal, saying that “from my perspective, the voters’ intent is nowhere to found in this – what I call a skeleton of what the Voters passed.”
He said he was “willing” for a discussion about possibly limiting the number plants adults can grow under the initiated statue, but he also said that “more than 50% of the people who voted this way voted due to home growth. So taking away what the voters clearly want is something I have a huge problem with.”
The chairman stated that the public had only until 2:30pm ET Monday to provide comments on the cannabis bill. This was just hours after the legislation was announced and passed through the committee in the short hearing. On Tuesday and Wednesday, no additional public testimony is allowed before the potential vote on sending it to floor.
Please let me make it clear:
Ohioans have voted *overwhelmingly* in favor of legalizing marijuana.
This included the legalization of home and personal use/grow.
I will NOT support ANY legislation that would roll back this law.
— Rep. Casey Weinstein (@RepWeinstein) November 30, 2023
Tom Haren said that the Issue 2 campaign spokesperson Tom Haren stated on Monday, “Nearly two years after receiving Issue 2’s language, and after Ohio voters passed it overwhelmingly, some in Ohio Senate are proposing to gut Issue 2’s most important provisions including home grow, social equity and higher taxes which will entrench and entrench the illegal market, forcing Ohioans to purchase their cannabis products from Michigan.” “This isn’t what the voters wanted.”
He said, “They will also attempt to declare an emergency and pass this bill in a rush process to prevent meaningful input. All to subvert Ohio voters’ will.” Let’s be clear, the democratic process isn’t an emergency. The Ohio Senate members should put this proposal on hold and implement the results from a fair and free election, in line with their duty as public servants.
Haren stated that “Voters should expect their elected officials to respect the core elements of Issue 2 and make any necessary changes only after a robust public debate.”
Jason Stephens, the House Speaker (R), has argued that, unlike the Senate Leader and Governor, legislators must take more time to consider amendments. He has pointed out that, for instance, changes to tax and advertising provisions would not be relevant until the end of next year, as regulators need to create licensing rules months before retailers can open.
Some Democratic lawmakers have said they are open to revisions such as allocating certain cannabis tax revenues towards K-12 education. However, supporters of the legalization initiative that was approved by the majority of voters do not want legislators to undermine the will that the majority of voters expressed.
Ohio Rep. Juanita Brent, (D), recently stressed that those who have been criminalized for marijuana, and those with industry expertise , should be included in any efforts to amend Ohio’s voter approved legalization law. She argued that it shouldn’t just be up to the “anti-cannabis’ legislators to revise this statute.
Rep. Gary Click filed legislation last Thursday that would permit individual municipalities to ban the use of and home cultivation cannabis within their jurisdictions. It would also revise distribution of state marijuana tax revenues by, for instance, reducing funding allocated to social equality and jobs programs, and redirecting them instead to law enforcement training.
Rep. Cindy Abrams, (R), also introduced a Bill last month to revise marijuana law. 40 million dollars in cannabis tax money would be used annually for law enforcement training.
The Ohio Department of Commerce published a FAQ guide to inform residents about the new law, including the timeline for its implementation. Regulators have repeatedly stated that policies could change depending on the actions of the legislature.
The prohibitionist organizations who campaigned against Issue 2 are now determined to undermine the newly passed law. Some have even described plans to pressurize the legislature into repealing legalization completely before it is implemented.
In September, several Ohio legislators said that they did not believe the legislature would repeal the legalization law passed by voters. The Senate President confirmed that repeal was not on the agenda for the next year.
The issue was only decided by the voters after the lawmakers refused to use the opportunity of passing their own reform during the ballot qualification procedure. The legislature had months to pass a legalization they could have tailored to address any outstanding concerns. However, the legislature deferred this decision to voters.
The GOP-controlled Senate, which was responsible for the early voting that began in October, passed a Resolution encouraging residents to reject Measure.
Rep. Dave Joyce, the co-chairman of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus said in September that he will vote in favor of this initiative in November. He urged “all Ohio citizens to take part and have their voices heard in this important issue.”
Sherrod Brown, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee (D-OH), said that he voted for the ballot initiative in late October. He called it a hard decision but one that he made because he believed that the reform would improve “safety” among consumers.
Vivek RAMASWAMY, a Republican presidential candidate for 2024, has said that he voted against the ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in Ohio, because he is concerned the federal government will “weaponize criminalization” against people who engage in state-legal marijuana activities under the “fake pretense” that they are protected from federal prosecution.
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) said that Ohio’s decision to legalize cannabis at the ballot was just one of many recent examples of Americans rejecting “MAGA extremeism,”. He added that he is committed to working on a bipartisan level “to continue moving forward on bipartisan marijuana legislation as soon we can.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, co-chairman of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus told Marijuana Moment that “the Ohio vote was a big exclamation mark on the things we have been talking about.”
We’ve been stating for years that this issue is gaining momentum and has a broad appeal. He said that it was similar to the success of the [Ohio] abortion rights issue, except this was more pronounced. “We received more votes than abortion.” “We get more votes than anyone on the ballot.”
The White House said separately that “nothing has really changed” with regards to President Joe Biden’s position on marijuana. They declined to state if they supported Ohio’s decision to legalize the drug or if they backed further reforms of federal cannabis laws.
According to preliminary results of county elections, while Ohio voters approved the statewide legalization of marijuana, activists scored a number of small victories to criminalize higher amounts of cannabis in 3 Ohio cities.
Below, you can read the text that is the amendment to legalize marijuana:
A new bipartisan Wisconsin bill would decriminalize marijuana possession
Photo by Philip Steffan.
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