Within two weeks, New Jersey lawmakers could finally — finally — begin voting on legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
As for whether a final vote will happen by the end of this year? That’s still up in the air.
The top two leaders of the state Legislature said Wednesday they expect legislation making cannabis legal to be voted out of committee by the end of the month. That would be the first legislative hurdle the measure has to clear.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he’s targeted Nov. 26 for a Committe vote at the Statehouse in Trenton. State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, did not specify a date.
The public would have a chance to speak before the vote.
“We certainly have the votes to get it out of committee,” Coughlin said during a panel of legislative leaders at the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ annual conference in Atlantic City. “We believe we will have the votes when it comes to the floor.”
If the bill does pass out of committee, both the full Senate and Assembly — each of which are controlled by Democrats — would then need to pass the measure before Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who supports legal weed, decides whether to sign it into law or veto it.
That process could take longer.
Though Murphy has long wanted legal weed by the start of 2019, negotiations with the Legislature have been tense and deadlines keep changing.
Sweeney and Coughlin said last month they hoped to have the full Legislature approve legal pot by the end of 2018.
Still, Sweeney said Wednesday “it’s very possible” that deadline passes if Murphy and top lawmakers don’t come to an agreement on a final bill.
“I think we’re 98 percent there with the administration, but we have to get to 100,” Sweeney said.
The Senate president also said he needs Murphy’s help to drum up votes for the proposal in the Senate.
“So far, he hasn’t come up with any,” Sweeney said.
Murphy asked Sweeney last month to send him a list of lawmakers to lobby. Sweeney said he’s done so but hasn’t heard back from the governor.
“It’s really going to take the administration to weigh in on this,” Sweeney added. “I am saying the governor needs to get me some votes.”
Peter Cammarano, Murphy’s chief of staff, said the governor’s office didn’t see a draft of the bill until Tuesday night.
“You can’t get votes for a bill you haven’t seen yet,” Cammarano told NJ Advance Media. “We’re still reviewing it.”
Sweeney said he still hopes to have a full vote by the end of the year, but it wouldn’t be an issue if it spilled into 2019.
Marijuana was a top issue Wednesday as lawmakers, local officials, lobbyists, and business leaders across the state gathered at the Atlantic City Convention Center for the annual conference.
A Rutgers-Eagleton Poll from last month found 58 percent of New Jerseyans support legalizing weed.
But numerous local leaders warned Sweeney and other lawmakers Wednesday about the possible danger of doing so.
One woman told the legislative panel her sister in Colorado — where marijuana is legal — refuses to walk outside because “everyone is stoned” and some get “stoned on second-hand smoke.”
Sweeney argued that if he put legal marijuana on the ballot next year, New Jersey voters would certainly pass it.
But he said lawmakers prefer to do it through legislation because otherwise the public would have to vote at the polls every time something needs to be altered about it.
“It’s harder to make changes when mistakes are made,” the Senate president said.
At least one top Republican said he sees the winds are changing, even though he does not support legalization.
“I think it’s inevitable,” Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said of legal marijuana. “It’s going to happen despite my reservations.”
Why’s that?
“I’ve been in the Legislature a while,” Bramnick said. “I just feel stuff — read minds and stuff. You just know. Like when you know your wife is mad at you.”
Credit: nj.com
