A marijuana decriminalization bill is moving forward, somewhat slowly, in the House, now that Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, had reached a compromise with the authors of H.427, a bill calling for the decriminalization of possession of two ounces or less of marijuana.
Smith, who was seen as the major opponent to decriminalization in the House, met last week with two of the authors of H.427 as well as the House Judiciary Chair Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, and agreed to ask the Department of Public Safety to informally study the issue over the summer in anticipation of returning to the bill next session.
“There are a number of questions that I’m going to direct to the commissioner of public safety with regard to what the experience has been in other states when they decriminalize: a better understanding of the claimed savings of decriminalization,” Smith said.
“I’d like to have an understanding of whether there are differential use rates of marijuana, and states where there is decriminalization, and also there have been a number of issues raised by law enforcement around whether or not it makes their job more difficult.”
Smith said he still does not support the bill, along with many members of the House from each party, but is open to hearing testimony on it next year.
However, Rep. Jason Lorber, D-Burlington, one of the bill’s three authors, called this change a “significant movement” forward for decriminalization, which he sees as a popular issue in Vermont. Vermont’s current policy of criminalizing two ounces or less now costs the state over $700,000 each year, according to research by the Joint Fiscal Office.
Rep. Oliver Olsen, R-Jamaica, failed Tuesday to move the bill to the floor for discussion from the House Judiciary Committee, where it has stalled for much of the session.
Olsen said his intentions were to see the bill discussed before the session ends next week, but his move – supported primarily by Republicans in a 21-119 vote – was seen by some as a gesture by Republicans to disrupt the House process of reviewing bills in committee before sending them to the floor.
However, Rep. Adam Howard, R-Cambridge, the Republican sponsor of H.427, said this was not the case.
“The truth of it is [Olsen] was rabble rousing and the difference between [Olsen] and I, is while I think he believes in the intent of the bill, was primarily rabble rousing,” Howard said. “It was by no means a clandestine effort on our part to bring it up. Of course I knew it would go up in flames, and it did and there you go.”
Olsen, however, said his intentions were to see the issue discussed. “This is my last year in the House and it’s an issue that is important to me, important to many of my constituents, and quite frankly important to many Vermonters. … It’s disappointing that it won’t see the light of day this year,” he explained.
Lorber seemed optimistic that next year the tri-partisan authorship of the bill and input from the Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn would appease more socially conservative voters as well as law enforcement.
“This is a very moderate bill, it does not legalize marijuana; it changes the penalty. As far as penalties go, the bill that we crafted is a higher penalty than other states; it’s $150, other states have $100. We also have education for youth. It makes more sense to treat marijuana how we treat alcohol,” Lorber said.
Gov. Peter Shumlin also voiced his support for decriminalization, at a press conference Wednesday. Decriminalization was one of the issues that the governor campaigned on during the last election.
“I am one of the governors in the country that feels strongly that joining the other states around us, the five or six states that have decriminalized, makes sense for Vermont. We have tried very hard to pass legislation this year that will get that done, and I think there is some indication that we’ll get it done next year,” Shumlin said.
The Senate attempted to address decriminalization Wednesday, with an amendment offered by the Health and Welfare Committee to H.745, the prescription drug monitoring bill.
The lengthy amendment addressed the substance of the bill, but also included several new sections on alcohol possession by minors and decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.
However, that portion of the amendment was ruled not germane, after Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, called for a point of order.
“It had to deal with opiates and regulated drugs. Marijuana and alcohol aren’t either of them, so I questioned the germaneness,” Flory explained.
