The bill has been advanced by a second Virginia Senate Committee, bringing it one step closer to being voted on in the chamber. The panel approved another measure to resentence those currently in prison for cannabis-related offenses.
After amending both measures at an hearing on Wednesday, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee approved them. The marijuana bill passed on a vote of 7-5, with 3 members abstaining.
Both measures address issues that advocates would like to be addressed after the state legalized adult-use marijuana: the creation of a regulated, legal market and relief for those still serving prison time due to prohibition.
Virginia has already made it legal for adults to use, possess and grow cannabis in limited quantities. This is the result of a Democrat proposal that was approved by legislators in 2021. After Republicans gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Governor’s Office later that year they blocked the reenactment required of a regulatory structure for retail sales.
The new SB448 measure from Sen. Aaron Rouse, (D), will allow for the licensing of some adult-use cannabis businesses as early as July this year. Retail licenses won’t be issued until 2025. Local governments could ban commercial cannabis activities, but only if voters approved.
Rouse explained to committee members that the bill’s main purpose is to help create a well-regulated adult retail cannabis market. “We’ve taken a lot of advice from a broad bipartisan effort in order to get it right,” Rouse told committee members.
A separate Senate committee, the Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services , passed the measure last week with a vote of 10-5. The measure will be heard in the Finance and Appropriations Committee, before being brought to the Senate floor.
At the hearing on Wednesday, the members adopted first a substitute bill that reflected the changes made in the previous committee. They then made their own changes.
Scott Surovell, the Democratic senator who chairs the two committees which have heard this bill to date, has attempted to keep each hearing focused on the relevant issues for the panel. The Courts of Justice’s hearing focused on the enforcement and penalties proposed in the bill.
The hearing removed a ban on edibles made at home. The panel also removed a section which would have made it illegal to transport cannabis across state borders, a crime that is already criminalized at the federal level.
A provision was also removed that prohibited the sale of any cannabis-related paraphernalia by anyone under 21. Surovell claimed that the provision’s language was so vague, it could make it “illegal to sell, say, a shovel, to an 18-year-old.”
JM Pedini suggested another change. He is the development director for NORML’s Virginia chapter and the executive director. This was to remove a section that would have allowed municipalities to criminalize the possession of an open container in public. This included on sidewalks and streets. Pedini pointed out that public consumption of cannabis and sharing marijuana with adults in the open is already prohibited.
The bill would create new penalties for illegal sales, while also providing a framework to start legal sales. Justice advocates have been very critical of a proposed mandatory sentence for selling marijuana without a permit.
Chelsea Higgs Wise of Marijuana Justice told lawmakers she no longer supported Rouse’s Bill due to its focus on enforcement.
She said, “I am ready to support this bill today.” “I must oppose this bill because of the new crime and the mandatory minimums.”
Kalia Harris, a speaker from the Virginia Student Power Network noted that the panelists’ apparent attempt to align marijuana punishments with similar unlicensed alcohol activities missed the historical differences between the two substances.
She said: “Let’s not simply go back and slap alcohol crimes when we create new laws.” “I ask you to be more critical about your processes and the way that you copy and paste things from ABC (the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority) to marijuana.”
Pedini, from NORML, and Jason Blanchette, of the Virginia Cannabis Association said that they favored the adoption of the bill.
At a Senate Cannabis Subcommittee Hearing earlier this month lawmakers chose Rouse’s bill over an alternative plan by Sen. Adam Ebbin, SB 423, which would have permitted existing medical marijuana dispensaries begin sales to adult customers more quickly. Critics claimed that the carveout was unfair and would allow existing businesses to dominate the adult market.
However, a companion bill to Ebbin’s measure is still alive.
Most of the changes in the substitute bill reflect amendments from the Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services. The most significant revisions were made to a section of the labeling, which was simplified to only require a date for expiration, instead of harvest, packaging, and processing dates.
A second change would allow cannabis businesses licensed to operate in the United States to deduct their state taxes from federal taxation, something that is currently prohibited by Internal Revenue Service Rule 280E.
The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee is expected to continue discussions and possibly amend the bill, particularly around tax rates and the way the state spends the tax revenue generated by legal marijuana.
At the hearing on Wednesday, marijuana advocates stated that hundreds of people were still in prison for marijuana offenses, whether they are charged with marijuana alone or because marijuana increases penalties for other crimes.
Sen. Angelia William Graves’ (D) SB 696 would provide resentencing assistance for these individuals. It would require that those incarcerated on certain marijuana charges would automatically receive a resentencing and have their punishments adjusted.
Williams Graves, a member of the panel, said that the law directs the courts to take into account the fact that marijuana is legalized, or at least to a certain degree, and to reduce, vacate, or modify the sentence. “This includes removing the individual from community supervision, unless Commonwealth can demonstrate it’s not in the public interest.”
By the end of 2025, many cases will need to be resentenced. People whose sentences were increased because of prior marijuana convictions would have hearings on April 1, 2025. Most cases will be automatically resolved, but some people who have convictions may need to petition the court.
Some members raised questions about the practicality of sorting through court records in order to identify cases that qualify for relief. This has been a problem in other states. However, members voted on the bill anyway.
Wise, of Marijuana Justice, responded to a panel question by pointing to an analysis that showed 417 people could benefit from the proposal. This includes an estimated seven people who are currently in prison for simple possession.
Several civil rights and justice organizations, such as the Virginia NAACP and NORML and Rise for Youth and the Last Prisoner Project, also support this measure.
Williams Graves, the sponsor of Wednesday’s hearing and one of its supporters, supported an amendment that removed violent felonies as a type of case that could qualify for relief.
Some cannabis advocates are hopeful, though, that the state will enact cannabis sale provisions this year, following Democrats’ wins in November last year to win control of both chambers. This path will require building consensus between Democrats in the Virginia legislature, while passing a bill which can avoid a potential veto by Virginia Governor. Glenn Youngkin, R.–or rallying enough legislators in the polarized Virginia state to override a veto.
Youngkin is likely to be skeptical of the bill’s specifics, as he said earlier in the month that he has “no interest” in legalizing the sales under the Democrat led bills.
He told reporters after his State of the Commonwealth Address that he had “no interest” in pushing forward marijuana legislation.
House Majority leader Charniele Herring said that “a regulated marketplace is important for public safety.”
She said, “The Governor should be careful.” “If a bill reaches his desk and he vetoes, I don’t know what the message will be to the public regarding their safety.”
Youngkin’s lack of interest in marijuana reform shouldn’t come as a shock. The fact that he said he would not try to overturn his Democratic predecessor’s noncommercial legalization act of 2021 was welcomed by advocates.
When he first became elected, Youngkin stated that he “was not against” commercial sales. He said that certain Democratic “non starters” were provisions that set labor union requirements for marijuana business–and that he wanted address concerns from the law enforcement. But he indicated that he believed there was a measure he could support.
This expectation was tempered at the start of the year.
Last session, a cannabis sales bill did advance through the Democratic-controlled Senate, but it stalled out in committee in the House, which at the time had a GOP majority.
Texas GOP attorney general sues to overturn Marijuana Decriminalization in Five Cities despite local voter approval
The article Virginia Senate committee approves marijuana retail sales and resentencement bills first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
