The Virginia House of Delegates approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana on Monday, and the Senate is expected to pass similar legislation later this week.
The House-passed proposal would make simple possession a civil penalty punishable by a maximum $50 fine. Current policy stipulates that a first offense is punishable by a maximum $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail. Lawmakers approved the bill in a 64-34 vote.
Over in the Senate, their version of the decriminalization bill will receive a first reading in that chamber later on Monday and get a full floor vote ahead of a Tuesday crossover deadline to move bills from one body to the other. This follows successful votes in the chamber’s Judiciary and Appropriations Committees.
“Momentum was slow to build during the first half of the session, but I think a lot of consensus has been reached by the halfway point,” Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “We’re heading into crossover with a much clearer understanding of what’s likely to shake out from this session.”
Advocates are confident that both decriminalization bills will be crossed over. If the Senate version moves forward, lawmakers will convene a conference committee to reconcile the legislation into a single proposal to send to Gov. Ralph Northam (D).
The governor campaigned on decriminalization and included the policy change proposal in his annual State of the Commonwealth speech last month.
While many advocates generally view the decriminalization legislation as a step in the right direction, the state’s ACLU chapter has voiced opposition to both reform bills, arguing that they don’t do enough to address social equity and restorative justice.
Del. Don Scott Jr. (D) said prior to the vote that refusing to support the incremental step of decriminalization and leaving the status quo intact while holding out for broader change is “cray cray.”
Pedini said “I certainly agree” that decriminalization is “essentially a half-measure” and that “while it will reduce arrests by about 50 percent, it will do nothing to address the disparate enforcement of marijuana laws across races.”
“We’ve said that clearly for years now. That being said, the administration has prioritized decriminalization so our job is to make sure that that bill is as good as they will let it be,” Pedini argued.
Last week, a separate piece of cannabis legislation also cleared the Senate. The resolution would require a commission to “study and make recommendations for how Virginia should go about legalizing and regulating the growth, sale, and possession of marijuana by July 1, 2022 and address the impacts of marijuana prohibition.”
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