South Carolina senators approve medical marijuana legalization bill on committee

Republicans joined Democrats to vote against the cannabis implementation bill, only to revive it later.

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

Mike Milburn, senior adviser to Governor Greg Gianforte, was walking through the Capitol corridors on Thursday, past legislative chambers – where the governor had just visited to please and pat the House Republicans on the back – when Senator Jason Ellsworth , R-Hamilton, appeared on one side of the door to the Senate floor to get his attention.

Milburn leaned over to listen.

“The project is coming back,” Ellsworth said to the former mayor. “701 is coming to the ground.”

That morning, the grand ambitions of the governor’s office and the Republican legislative establishment for the implementation of recreational marijuana in Montana almost derailed on the committee when the Republican Party’s right flank and the Democrats came together to vote against this session’s main marijuana proposal, only to have the project revived less than an hour later, after a series of frantic negotiations within the majority party.

Democrats already planned to vote against the bill, the House Bill 701; despite sustaining a comprehensive recreational marijuana market, the proposal shifted most of the proceeds from product taxes to the state’s general fund, a language change in I-190, the legalization initiative that voters passed last year .

But a contingent of Republicans also voted against the bill. Some simply do not like marijuana or are sensitive to adult use due to the difficult spread of medical marijuana many years earlier. Some, echoing a concern among Democrats, are concerned about the speed of the process. For months, lawmakers and stakeholders from the governor’s office and the industry have been working on the bill, but it only had its first hearings on the committee this week, with the days passing by the deadline to pass on revenue projects to the opposite chamber.

HB701, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, was scheduled to hit the ground on Tuesday, the first day back after a four-day Easter break.

“Our time is up,” said Mayor Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale.

But the main reason for opposition, at least among the Republican Party, had less to do with what was happening on the House Taxation Committee and more to do with what was happening across the hall, where legislators on the House Tax Committee. Business and Labor – who listened to HB701 earlier in the week – was considering two other marijuana proposals.

The first, HB670, went through 11-9. This project, elaborated by the Reps. Derek Skees and Matt Regier, both Republicans from Kalispell, would tax recreational marijuana at a lower rate (15 percent) than HB701 (20 percent) while slightly increasing the tax on medical marijuana. It would reserve most of the tax revenue to pay public servants’ pension obligations, leaving some in a trust fund to handle “the economic and social costs” of legalization, while HB701 would put most of the money in the general fund of the state.

The second was Deputy Brad Tschida’s HB707, which would thoroughly revise the I-190’s tax structure, taxing only wholesale marijuana at a rate of 20 percent, a system modeled according to state alcohol regulations. Tschida, R-Missoula, said earlier this week that he hoped to have part of his account inserted into the main vehicle, the HB701. But HB707 failed.

Meanwhile, the Taxation Committee was preparing to vote for HB701 when word spread across the room that one of the other projects had fallen. For some House Republicans, putting the full weight of the Legislature behind the HB701 without considering all the other options made no sense; they did not like some aspects of the bill, especially its approach to spending and saving marijuana prescriptions, and the fact that there was little time for amendments in the House frustrated them.

Thus, four Republicans voted no: MP Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls; Rep. Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade; Rep. Scot Kerns, R-Great Falls and Rep. Jeremy Trebas, also from Great Falls. Together with a unified Democratic bloc, which had been struggling to increase funding for the environment and public lands in HB701 through language in I-190, it was enough to kill the 10-12 bill.

“We wanted all three accounts to go through the Chamber’s plenary session. I didn’t know that Taxation was going to vote on the big bill, because we had the smallest audience, ”said Sheldon-Galloway, who preferred the Skees-Regier plan due to the fact that he invested interest in marijuana revenues by collecting confidence.

It was a rare moment of accidental transparency for the Republican majority. The corridor between the two committee rooms was busy, with more reporters and lobbyists arriving by the minute. In the beginning, several key players – Hopkins, Rep. Becky Beard, Chairman of the House Taxation Committee, Rep. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, President of Business and Labor, Sen. Jason Ellsworth, who is likely to take the bill to the Senate, and others – huddled in a corridor behind a double glass door, out of earshot of the audience, trying to put the pieces together.

The group dispersed. In a corner, Ellsworth leaned over Hinkle, speaking in a low, urgent voice about the vote count. Other atomized groups clustered in other parts of the neighborhood, waiting for more clarity, processing what had happened. The project that failed, in addition to being the longest and most detailed marijuana plan, is also the project that promised to fund the governor’s drug treatment program, the HEART Fund, among other key priorities.

Worse still, from the GOP perspective, if the total stalemate would mean that the Legislature could lose its chance to amend the language of I-190, an initiative that was approved with 53% support in 2020, despite potentially violating the constitution by prescribing it. expenditure on tax revenue, a proprietary authority that the Legislative jealously guards.

After the hustle and bustle, the committee decided to return shortly after noon, and the corridors were empty. Was one of the session’s heaviest accounts – both literally and figuratively – dead? Would your language be merged with the Skees bill?

The main issue, as Sheldon-Galloway described, was the lack of time-limited options. She said she wanted to see the bills be reconciled on the conference committee and expected several amendments. Hinkle said something similar: all three bills must reach the House floor, and preferably all three must reach the Senate.

You see, business and work came back from recess, Republicans took the HB707 off the table and, in a largely partisan vote, approved it. Noland and the rest of his committee hovered in front of the television that showed how the Taxation Committee, now back from the break, would act.

In fact, Rep. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, decided to clear the table. Although Democratic support was still lacking, the motion was passed, and shortly thereafter, Sheldon-Galloway, Hinkle and the rest exchanged their votes, sending HB701 to the floor, along with HB670 and HB707.

“We wanted more options, that was what it was about,” said Noland. “More options give people better chances. Some don’t like one of these accounts. Some have hiccups with the big bill. If we set everything in motion, then we can discuss all of these accounts. “

Hopkins could not be reached for comment in time for publication.

Beard and other lawmakers began work on amending the HB701 after the dust settled. At the plenary session on Thursday, she said she expected some proposed changes to the tax rate, the date of implementation (retail can be launched as early as next January), among other areas. Democrats, who want to expand the provision of HB701 by allowing the re-sentencing of people incarcerated with marijuana convictions, loosen licensing restrictions for those with previous drug charges and, above all, invest as much money as possible in land and conservation. , plan to present their amendments either in the plenary of the Chamber or as the bills pass in the Senate.

JD “Pepper” Petersen, owner of a dispensary and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild, said he expects most of the action to take place in the upper house. Like many dispensary owners, he is not a fan of HB701, which has a provision that allows counties to easily refuse recreational marijuana and one that prevents outdoor cultivation. However, he predicted that this would be the final vehicle.

“701 is the show,” said Petersen.

Galt could not say with certainty that the HB701 would obtain votes in the House.

“It will be very interesting,” he said, referring to another lucrative deputy regulator in the state of Montana. “It will be a throw of the dice.”

This piece was first published by the Daily Montanan.

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