Legislators to weigh weed and wage bills bills in April

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Good afternoon,

The Delaware General Assembly will operate for a short week before adjourning for an Easter break.

Senators and House members will return in April with two contentious issues on the table, the minimum wage and legalizing recreational marijuana.

While by no means an expert on Dover’s goings-on, it appears the marijuana bill faces a tough fight.

Since the bill raises revenue, it would require a three-fifths vote for approval. Gov. John Carney has remained silent on the bill, not a good sign. In other states that legalized weed, Democratic governors have publicly supported the legislation.

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With the state’s finances in decent shape, pressure to gain revenue from recreational weed will be a less pressing matter. 

Also in the mix is President Joe Biden, a long-time crime crackdown warrior who has not completely softened his position. That stance could influence some legislators, especially those retired from law enforcement. In the early days of the Biden-Harris administration, a few individuals were removed from their posts or did not get jobs due to past use indications.

The odds of moving the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 appear to be higher. Again, Carney has been largely silent. However, he knows the path to a minimum wage is more widely accepted by moderate Democrats, despite both of the state’s U.S. senators voting to keep the measure out of the recently passed $1.9 billion American Rescue stimulus bill.

 It is worth noting that the minimum wage bill, after approval by the Delaware Senate, was assigned to a House committee that will not fast-track the legislatiion.

The minimum wage bill will face a well-organized opposition effort that will include restaurants, grocers, chambers of commerce, and most likely all Republicans in the General Assembly.

Opponents to marijuana legalization include elements of law enforcement and the state’s medical society. Unlike their counterparts in other states, Republicans in Delaware do not have libertarian tendencies that would lean in the direction of legalization.

Compromises are possible, although Democrats might be able to push through a minimum wage bill.  Carney remains the X factor. Despite sometimes intense criticism, the governor has listened to at least some small business owners’ concerns.

The difficulties of passing a cannabis bill were evident across the river in New Jersey. It took a vote by residents (something not possible in Delaware) and a lengthy legislative process. Legalization is still a ways off in the Garden State.

Last week, New Jersey’s  Legislature passed a bill that overturned a provision barring police from telling parents of teens about the first offense for possession of marijuana.

Delaware’s bill is more carefully crafted and reduces the role of corporate marijuana companies that have called the shots in other states and led to criticism from those shut out of the process of legally profiting from weed.

Instead, the corporate weed lobby may prefer to wait a year, build out the medical marijuana system and see if a bill more to their liking emerges. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.

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