A Thursday Assembly vote on a pair of bills decriminalizing certain amounts of marijuana possession and expunging past offenses has been cancelled, leaving just the vote on a measure to expand the state’s medical marijuana program to take place.
The state Senate was also scheduled to hold a vote on Thursday on both measures, but the entire session was cancelled on Monday.
Senate Bill 10 aims to expand the state’s medical marijuana program to serve tens of thousands of more patients, while Senate Bill 3205 is to set up a process for people with low-level marijuana-convictions and clear their criminal records of those offenses.
The decriminalization measure, Assembly Bill 5325, decriminalizes possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and replaces it with a $50 fine.
All three measures passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee Monday, while the expungement and medicinal pieces passed out of the Senate Health Committee earlier that same morning.
State Sen. Joe Vitale, D-19th District, who chairs the Senate health committee, told reporters following the Monday morning meeting that the plan was to merge aspects of the expungement and decriminalization measure.
