A Pa. Senate committee rejected House Democrats’ pitch to legalize recreational marijuana through state-owned stores

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians who were counting on soon being able to purchase adult-use cannabis in the state had their hopes dashed this week when a state Senate committee almost immediately rejected House Democrats’ proposal to utilize a state-store model to sell recreational marijuana.

The Senate Law and Justice Committee voted 3-7 on Tuesday to reject an expansive bill that would have legalized, taxed, and regulated recreational marijuana for sale to adults age 21 and older, as well as expunged and vacated certain marijuana-related criminal convictions. The bill, House Bill 1200, also would have made major changes intended to benefit communities that have been historically harmed by the criminalization of marijuana. Passed by the Democratic-controlled House earlier this month, the measure was the farthest any recreational marijuana proposal has gotten in the legislative process in Pennsylvania.

The bill was expected to face long odds in the GOP-controlled state Senate, as some Republican lawmakers have voiced concerns on legalizing recreational marijuana.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie), who chairs the Senate committee and is a proponent of legalizing recreational marijuana, said he called the vote on the bill as a way to make it clear that a state-store model will not get support in the state Senate. And if Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, wants to legalize the industry as part of a way to raise revenue toward filling the state’s $4.5 billion budget gap as he has proposed for the coming fiscal year, Laughlin said, he needs to take a stronger position in negotiations to make it happen.

The House Democrats who authored the bill, Reps. Rick Krajewski (D., Philadelphia) and Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny), see their state-store model proposal, similar to how Pennsylvania currently sells liquor, as an innovative way to ensure small entrepreneurs have a chance at accessing the burgeoning cannabis industry and begin reinvesting in communities that faced the greatest consequences of the U.S. government-led War on Drugs.

Krajewski, who is among the most progressive members in the state House, has particular concern with the few marijuana companies that have been successful in other states, as they vertically integrate themselves in the new markets by owning and controlling each step of the process, from growing the plants to hitting the retail shelf. Having the state utilize its existing Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which oversees state-owned liquor stores, would give smaller companies and entrepreneurs a chance to break into the market, Krajewski said.

» READ MORE: Weed instead of wine? What Pa.’s state-run weed stores could look like if recreational cannabis is legalized

“The reality is, we need an alternative way to think about how to do cannabis legalization in a way that incorporates social justice, economic justice, local entrepreneurship,” Krajewski added. “The status quo way of setting up these markets has failed to do that.”

The state-store model would set Pennsylvania apart from the 24 states where recreational cannabis is legal as the only state that runs its marijuana industry — a distinction Laughlin said he believes would be costly, complicated, and limiting to the market.

Laughlin, during the committee meeting, said he made it “pretty crystal clear” in statements leading up to the House vote last week that a state-store model was a nonstarter and that he wanted House Democrats to negotiate with Senate Republicans before sending a bill to the chamber.

Legalization of recreational marijuana has long faced criticism from Pennsylvania Republicans, and the bill was not expected to pass in the state Senate.

But House Democrats were disappointed to see their barrier-breaking legislation get shot down so quickly, when they believed it was supposed to be the starting point for negotiations.

“We sent over a bill. The Senate has been on the record requesting a bill to have discussions about legalization. We did that, and the bill was voted down,” Krajewski said. “So what that tells me is that the Senate’s not actually ready to support legalization.”

Laughlin and Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) have introduced legislation on marijuana legalization in the past, and are working on doing so again soon. The proposal will likely include some of the social justice components from the state-store model bill, Street said, noting that there is still a chance the House bill gets revived in the Senate.

Shapiro has so far been “agnostic” on how the General Assembly chooses to legalize recreational marijuana, Frankel said. The governor has publicly encouraged the two sides to find a way to put a bill on his desk.

But Laughlin has directly challenged Shapiro to take the lead if he really wants to legalize recreational marijuana.

“I believe that if there’s a path to getting adult-use cannabis passed, the governor himself is going to have to roll his sleeves up and help do some of the work,” Laughlin said. “I have not seen that yet. Hopefully we can get there.”

A spokesperson for Shapiro declined to respond to Laughlin’s remarks, but referred to Shapiro’s previous comments that the bill was “going to have to go through some bipartisan compromise.”

Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.