As the regular session comes to a close on June 9th, Connecticut lawmakers are still pushing back against Governor Ned Lamont’s recreational cannabis legalization bill. There aren’t enough social equity measures, the progressive Democrats continue to say. SB 888 still isn’t good enough.
Continued Discussion
House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D) continuously says discussions are going well. A decision is expected ‘soon’. It wasn’t until yesterday, in an interview, that an expedited floor debate could take place this week. This would be the last chance the Senate has to make any changes and approve SB 888. Then they would send it to the House for their debate and discussion before June 9th. There may not be enough time left for everything. Especially with Democratic pushback on social equity.
SB 888 saw approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee at the beginning of April. Since then, it has sat in a legislative limbo. It sat waiting to be brought to a full Senate floor, or sent to another committee for debate and possible approval. However, lawmakers have been meeting weekly, if not more, with Governor Lamont to try and come to agreements on various points of concern in the bill.
Special Session
One thing lawmakers and the governor discussed involves calling for a special session. New Mexico did the same earlier this year to legalize recreational cannabis. There, lawmakers would be able to work solely on cannabis legalization efforts to meet the governor’s demands of legalizing sales in the state for profit and various other reasons.
However, it’s unclear if Governor Lamont will call for a special session. This wouldn’t be necessary if the House and the Senate sent him a bill before June 9th.
Lawmaker Response
In a recent interview with Marijuana Moment, Representative Anne Hughes (D) spoke about what she and her fellow lawmakers are pushing for surrounding social equity.
“We really have to see some of the sticking points around the equity, around expungement, around members of the community that have been impacted by this war on drugs, having access to seed-to-sale economic opportunity and also home grow,” Representative Hughes said. “We either end prohibition on cannabis or we don’t…I think the governor’s team is all about how much racism do we get to keep in this scenario?… The governor wants it bad, and we want it right.”
Lawmakers are working together to make things successful. As more information develops, we will update you with the latest.
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