Virginia lawmakers passed legislation last week that would license and regulate retail cannabis sales in the Commonwealth, where use, possession, and limited home cultivation are already legal. The bill will now be sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
Republicans have repeatedly slowed down efforts by supporters to create a framework of legal sales following the passage of a cannabis legalization bill in 2021.
The new Democratic majority in the Senate passed a bill this year that will see retail stores open by May 2025. Aaron Rouse, a Democrat in the Senate, and Del. The plan, which was negotiated and crafted by Paul Krizek in the House (D), is the result of months of bicameral compromise.
Rouse told Marijuana Moment that he was proud of all the hard work put into passing the bill through the legislature. However, he refused to speculate on the reaction Youngkin might have towards the bill.
The senator stated that “Once we have done our jobs, it is up to the Governor to do his.”
Rouse spoke with Marijuana Moment Monday to discuss what went into the compromise bill and why he believes it’s important for the Commonwealth to regulate cannabis sales. The transcript below has been lightly edited to ensure clarity.
Marijuana moment: How did this issue come to your attention, as I understand it has been controversial in the Commonwealth? What is it that makes it worth taking up as a lawmaker?
Rouse: I am interested in solving problems and confronting really big issues that face our society. And figuring out what solutions we can bring to the table. So I am very focused on issues in our community. Whether it is public safety, finding revenue for education, or trying to provide resources to underserved, undervalued, communities, or trying to find resources to law enforcement. I am really interested in finding solutions to major problems in order to advance our society.
Your bill only touched on several issues: law enforcement and public safety, funding education, and underserved community. Your bill did not include social equity at first, in the sense of giving priority to people with previous cannabis convictions. What has changed in the last few weeks that made you more interested in including this as a compromise?
Listen, when you have a large bill like this, the Cannabis legislation, it’s important to move your bills so they don’t die in a committee. It’s important to have a strategy in order to get your bill on the floor, and possibly and hopefully make it to the governor. Before I carried this legislation, and even in committees I said that I would not put my name on anything without social equity. I made this public and reinforced it in the final version.
Although I will not go into the strategy of this bill, you can see that it has broad support. I was also proud to have worked with members of both parties, industry leaders, and grassroots leaders, to bring this final version to the Governor’s desk.
It’s a little inside baseball but, at one point, it looked like you had all reached a compromise. But the next day, there was a slight deviation from this agreement by a Senate Committee. This led to some late floor amendments that brought the bills into alignment. You said that you didn’t wish to discuss strategy in detail, but can you tell me what happened?
It’s always a matter of compromise, before you can vote on a bill. You are always working on the issue. You are always trying to refine and improve the bill before it is put up for a vote.
One of the things I am proud of is the fact that my bill is the vehicle we used to reach the governor’s office. And one of our major concerns was that we didn’t want to let the big pharmaceutical or medical companies get ahead of small businesses, or potential small business owners, to the point that the equity portion would be diluted. We wanted to make sure that the big pharma companies did not have a monopoly on this industry, before other stakeholders had a chance to participate.
Many people are now focusing on what Governor Youngkin is going to do with the legislation. Youngkin will do with the bill. When was the last contact your office or a member of this team made with the Governor? What was the governor’s response?
I think it is important to continue to emphasize that there is a balance in power–we are the legislative branch of government and the governor is the executive branch–and that’s why I’ve instructed my team and my staff to focus on the legislation. We need to develop legislation so that we can deliver it to the Governor’s desk.
We are less concerned with what the Governor will or won’t do. It’s not our job to hope that the governor signs the bill. It’s our job to work with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to create a bill that will reach his desk. Once we have done our part, it is up to the Governor to finish his. I believe we should always focus on our responsibilities, our focus, and our priorities. Again, our responsibility, as the side with the balance of power if you like, was to create legislation that would reach the governor’s desk. And we did just that.
The governor could amend the bill and change things you’ve worked on. Would you be willing to do that? There are some issues that you won’t compromise on.
It’s important that we don’t rush ahead. We do not know the type of amendments that he may send back. This is the part of negotiation and compromise. You leave this door open. Once we reach that bridge, then we will decide if it is necessary to cross.
You spoke about building support to a bill which could make it on the Governor’s desk. At times, I’ve heard supporters say that they hoped or expected more Republican votes. What importance does it have to have bipartisan backing for this bill, now that it has been sent to the Governor? What steps did you take to gain support from both sides of the aisle?
It’s important that any legislation has bipartisan support. This shows they can work together and build consensus. It took me a lot of effort, patience, understanding, conversation, and communication. It also took a lot of compromise to try to implement legislation that was very, very crucial to our Republican counterparts as well as to those grassroots organizations and leaders in the industry.
A good compromise, they say, is when no one is happy and everyone is satisfied. So I am proud of the wide coalition we had in order to craft this bill. The amount of effort that goes into creating a piece of legislation as monumental as the cannabis adult retail market is incredible.
One thing to know is that this bill does not legalize cannabis–marijuana–through through our commonwealth. It tries to regulate cannabis and ensure that it is safe in the commonwealth. It will hopefully help to reduce the illegal market.
Would you do it again if this bill was vetoed? Would you have done anything differently if this were to happen?
I will continue to work on behalf of the people in our commonwealth, who have been pushing this legislation for more than three years. This includes those who wish to start their own business, those who seek to build a legacy, and those who say, “Hey, now is the time to have an adult-use retail market for marijuana.”
We can ensure that our communities are safe as long as people want the market to be established in a safe way. We can also make sure to bring in millions of dollars to fund our priorities, such as affordable housing, education, and voting rights. We will work as long as the demand and effort for a cannabis marketplace is there. I work for people.
The last word goes to you. Do you have anything else to say?
If I haven’t already said so, I am very proud of all the hard work we did to bring this cannabis bill before the governor. It’s been a broad, great partnership between people from the industry and grassroots organizations. We crafted this piece of legislation together to get it into the governor session. If I haven’t made that clear already, I was more than happy to lead this effort.
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Photo by Mike Latimer.
The post Virginia Sen. Is ‘Incredibly proud’ Of Marijuana Sale Bill–Despite the Possibility Of Veto first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
