The California Legislature will soon vote on two marijuana reform bills that seem to be more popular with the public than with the politicians in Sacramento: SB 129 by state Sen. Mark Leno, which would prohibit employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, which would allow for reduced, misdemeanor charges in marijuana cultivation cases. Both bills have strong public support according to a newly released poll of state voters by EMC Research, CalNORML Director Dale Gieringer writes in an e-mail advisory. However, both have had trouble getting through the [...]
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has introduced legislation to keep Californians convicted of illegal marijuana cultivation out of state prison. Ammiano’s Assembly Bill 1017 seeks to set a maximum sentence of one year in county jail for people convicted of illegal cultivation, Peter Hecht reports in “Weed Wars.”. Current California law treats illegal pot growing as a felony allowing up to three years in state prison, with stiffer sentences if the cultivation is connected to illegal sales or trafficking. The bill by the San Francisco Democrat is also intended to make it easier for authorities to charge [...]
Democratic lawmaker Mark Leno of San Francisco wants to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana an infraction and take it out of the reach of the criminal courts. Democratic lawmaker Joan Buchanan of Alamo wants to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating near schools, Peter Hecht writes in his “Weed Wars” blog. Their two bills, stirring different constituencies in the marijuana debate, each passed their respective houses and will now move forward in the Legislature. Leno’s bill, Senate Bill 1449, cleared the Senate and is now headed to the Assembly — with [...]
An Assembly public safety committee today passed a bill to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for use by all California residents. But then Assembly Bill 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, passed away in a bureaucratic haze, the Sacramento Bee’s Peter Hecht reports here. Ammiano announced that a critical public health committee will not hear the bill this week — meaning that it won’t meet a legislative deadline for advancing to the Assembly floor. However, despite a procession of law enforcement officers who testified against the bill, the public safety committee’s 4-3 vote passing [...]
A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly this morning, over the dire warnings of police chiefs and prosecutors, the Los Angeles Times reports here. The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve AB 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who said the bill would provide tax revenue to the state and regulation of the drug. The new law includes a requirement that users be at least 21 years old; Ammiano chairs the committee. The measure next goes to the Health Committee, but proponents [...]
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