Tag Archives: mace

Federal Marijuana Possession Expungement Proposed

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

BILL TO CLEAN SLATES FOR POT OFFENSES INTRODUCED

Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have introduced bipartisan legislation intended to give millions of Americans a “clean slate” by sealing the criminal records of low-level and non-violent offenders who have successfully completed their sentences.

mario170628The Clean Slate Act, S.5266, would automatically seal the federal records of individuals convicted of simple drug possession and other low-level, nonviolent crimes involving marijuana, intended “to remove major barriers many Americans face in finding employment, securing housing, and accessing education,” Casey said in a press release. “This legislation would help more than 70 million Americans fully participate in society and provide them with a second chance to contribute to their communities and support their families.”

The measure is a companion bill to a House version filed 18 months aho by Reps Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Nancy Mace (R-SC). That bill, H.R. 2930, has not yet made it to the House floor. The legislation has been introduced over the last several sessions, and a previous version advanced through the House Judiciary Committee in 2022 but was never voted on by the full House.

With only 20 more work days for the House and 24 days for the Senate scheduled before the end of the year, passage is unlikely.

Press Release, Casey, Paul Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Seal Records of Low-Level, Nonviolent Offenses (September 26, 2024)

S 5266, A bill to require automatic sealing of certain criminal records, and for other purposes  (September 25, 2024)

H.R. 2930, Clean Slate Act

Marijuana Moment, Federal Marijuana And Drug Convictions Would Be Automatically Sealed Under New Bipartisan Senate Bill (September 27, 2024)

– Thomas L. Root

Pot Ascendent? Federal Marijuana Legalization Effort Resumes – Update for November 9, 2023

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

MARIJUANA LEGISLATION RESURRECTED

A bipartisan but Republican-led effort to legalize marijuana federally was reintroduced in Congress last week, just before red-as-a-beet Ohio voters approved recreational marijuana.

marijuana221111Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC), was expected to reintroduce the States Reform Act (H.R. 6028) before Oct 24, when her office refiled a bill “to amend the Controlled Substances Act regarding marihuana.” The bill, which currently has no text, is being sponsored by Representatives Dean Phillips (D-MN), David Trone (D-MD), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

A previous version of Mace’s pot legalization bill introduced in late 2021 would have removed marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and set a 3.75% federal excise tax on sales.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) says he intends to amend marijuana legislation there to include “criminal justice provisions,” mentioning expungements as he’s done in the past but also citing in the letter additional measures such as resentencing for current federal cannabis prisoners.

New York Times, Ohio Issue 2 Election Results: Legalize Marijuana (November 8, 2023) 

MJBiz Daily, Republican-led federal marijuana legalization effort reappears in Congress (November 2, 2023)

H.R. 6028, States Reform Act

Marijuana Moment, Schumer Emphasizes ‘Moral Responsibility’ Of Adding Criminal Justice Provisions To Marijuana Banking Bill As Republicans Push For Floor Vote (November 2, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Election Leads to Legislative Uncertainty for Pot Reform – Update for November 11, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

HOPE FOR MARIJUANA REFORM IN CONGRESS DIMS, BUT POT PROGNOSTICATORS SEE A TWO-YEAR HORIZON FOR RESCHEDULING

marijuana-dc211104The Republicans own the House, the Democrats own the Senate. That seems to be the likeliest scenario right now. In the House, the Republicans need seven more seats of the still-contested seats, the Democrats need 26. In the Senate, the Republicans and Democrats each need two of the three yet-undecided races.

A divided 118th Congress is the likeliest outcome. Even so, Marijuana Moment reports, “there would still a range of legislative possibilities for cannabis reform, including (most optimistically) descheduling.”

Because key players like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) are likely to retain their positions and are dedicated to marijuana reform, “they have pretty good leverage over the House if they want to bring them to the table on the issue,” Marijuana Moment reported.

But the Senate is even more unlikely to force a Republican-controlled House to take up a comprehensive legalization bill such as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), S.4591, that the Democrat-controlled House has been to convince the Senate to take up the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) ActH.R. 3617.

marijuana220412There still could be some Congressional action in the upcoming lame-duck session – which begins on Monday for 17 legislative days before the end of the year – but it’s likely President Biden will want to ramrod as many as his initiatives as he can while he still owns both houses of Congress.

Nevertheless, marijuana advocates among the House membership has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to discuss bipartisan marijuana reform issues at the federal and state level.

The House Oversight Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee posted a notice of the meeting on Tuesday, as voters in states across the country head to the polls to decide on cannabis legalization ballot measures.

The congressional meeting, titled, “Developments in State Cannabis Laws and Bipartisan Cannabis Reforms at the Federal Level,” will take place on November 15. Witness have not yet been announced.

It’s not clear if the hearing will focus on any specific pieces of federal marijuana reform legislation, but Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who serves as the GOP ranking member on the panel, previously told Marijuana Moment that she had received a “promise” from leadership that her States Reform Act (SRA), H.R. 5977, would be taken under consideration in the panel.

marijuana221111That legislation would end federal marijuana prohibition while taking specific steps to ensure that businesses in existing state markets can continue to operate unencumbered by changing federal rules. National Law Journal reported last week that a panel of legal experts it consulted marijuana will be re-scheduled as a Schedule II or III drug by January 20, 2025.

Early last month, President Biden ordered government agencies to study removal of marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act drug schedule.

One expert said it is unlikely cannabis will be descheduled altogether. “I don’t think the federal government will be ready by then to relinquish control over a drug it has categorized by the CSA as one of the most dangerous drugs on the streets for over 50 years.”

Marijuana Moment, Here’s What The Midterm Congressional Election Results Could Mean For Federal Marijuana Reform (November 10, 2022)

Marijuana Moment, Congress Will Hold A Marijuana Hearing One Week After Five States Vote On Legalization Ballot Measures (November 8, 2022)

National Law Journal, Editor’s Roundtable: A New Biden Doctrine? (October 31, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

A Tale of Two Bills (Part 2 – Up in Smoke) – Update for April 12, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

… MARIJUANA REFORM IS SUFFERING FROM TOO MUCH INTEREST

Politico was just one of several news outlets last week admitting that the MORE Act – far-reaching marijuana legalization bill passed two weeks ago by the House – still has “no real path to President Joe Biden’s desk.”

MORE’s passage marks the second time in less than two years that the House passed legislation to decriminalize pot, but the Democrats have “passed a party-line bill that has little chance of getting the necessary Republican support to pass the Senate.”

senatemarijuana220412“You’re not going to be able to get Republicans on board… the way that the MORE Act is done,” said Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC), who introduced a bill last year that decriminalizes marijuana and expunges some records but does not create federal grant programs. “You’ve got to have Republicans on board if we’re going to have any chance of getting it done in the Senate.”

Ironically, Republican complaints about MORE relate to federal funding of pot programs. No one is critical of the expungement and retroactive sentencing reforms.

The Senate — where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), are working on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act — is even tougher ground for weed.

Booker and Schumer have refused to even hold a hearing on a cannabis banking bill the House has approved six times because it does not address criminal justice reform. But Democrats’ pursuit of a perfect comprehensive pot bill worries some lawmakers and advocates, who do not see a clear path forward for sweeping drug policy changes under Republican leadership in either chamber — especially the Senate. Given that Democrats may not control both houses of Congress next year, the window for federal cannabis policy port reform may not be open much longer.

MORE faces significant hurdles in the Senate. First, not all Democrats are in favor of marijuana legalization; conservative Democrats, represented by a few senators such as Sen Joseph Manchin (WV), stand in the way of reform. In order to pass the Senate, the bill needs to secure 60 votes to be safe from a Republican filibuster. Because not all Democrats are expected to vote in favor of the MORE Act, ensuring its success would require more than 10 Republicans voting in favor of it.

marijuana220412But the future of marijuana legalization does not rely solely on the success of the MORE Act. Schumer intends to introduce  CAOA later this month. If CAOA gets a vote in the Senate, it will be the first time in 50 years that the Senate voted on cannabis reform. The downside, according to the National Law Review, is that “the competing interests of these two bills could create an unnecessary deadlock, potentially leaving the cannabis industry with another year of failed reforms.”

MORE Act (H.R. 3617)

Politico, House passes marijuana legalization bill (again), but with no clear path forward (April 1, 2022)

Shepherd’s, Marijuana Legalization Act Passes the House, Likely to Die in the Senate (April 7, 2022)

National Law Review, The House Does It Again: MORE Act Ready for Senate Action (April 4, 2022)

Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (not yet introduced)

– Thomas L. Root

It’s Halftime for the 117th Congress, and Criminal Justice Reform Has Been Held Scoreless – Update for January 3, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

WELL, 2021 WAS KIND OF DISAPPOINTING…

NYDTypwrtr220103We all had high hopes for criminal justice reform when President Biden took the White House, and the Democrats won control of the House and Senate. The year 2021 was widely seen as the end of a dark era and the beginning of a brighter one. As Reason magazine said last week, it wasn’t just the close of just any year. It was the end of 2020.

Over the last 12 months, politicians h some steps to advance justice reform. But as is the case with so many New Year’s expectations, quite a bit also stayed the same.

Since Biden’s inauguration, criminal justice reform has taken a back seat to his more prominent initiatives, last March’s American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November, and the now seemingly-dead Build Back Better social-spending blowout.

Biden did issue an executive order canceling contracts with private prison operators, a nice change for the 14,000 people in those joints. And his Dept, of Justice finally reinterpreted the CARES Act to let people on home confinement stay there. He has promised clemency reform. But the real work is to be done in Congress, w has yet to progress.

If you stayed awake in high school, you recall that every Congress lasts two years. Any bill introduced in the 117th Congress – which began in January 2021 – will stick around until the 117th expires a year from today. That means that the reform bills now in front of Congress still have a chance.

On New Year’s Day, the San Francisco Chronicle called for a targeted bill to abolish mandatory minimums, said, “The good news is that criminal justice reform can be accomplished with relatively limited expenditures — compared to, for example, Build Back Better’s sweeping expansion of the social safety net. That gives it a fighting chance of passing in today’s barely Democrat-controlled Congress.”

marijuana-dc211104

A couple of bills before Congress would reduce but not eliminate mandatory minimums: the EQUAL Act (lowers minimums for crack to equal those of powder) has passed the House but hasn’t yet cleared committee in the Senate; the MORE Act (decriminalizes marijuana retroactively) has been approved by a House committee but has not been passed by the House or Senate; the First Step Implementation Act (makes First Step mandatory minimum reductions retroactive) and the Smarter Sentencing Act (reduces mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses only) have not even cleared committee in either the House or Senate.

While the House also passed the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana, the measure has been dead on arrival in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) announced plans to draft his own version of the bill. The Schumer bill has been released as a working draft but has yet to be formally introduced.

In the House, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) introduced the first GOP-sponsored bill in Congress to legalize marijuana, hinting that there may be openness to a bipartisan solution in the future. If the Democrats fail to take advantage of the political opportunity in front of them, Forbes said last week, they risk ceding this issue to the Republicans if and when they take back control of Congress, possibly as soon as next year.

When the SAFE Banking Act, a marijuana bill, passed the House last year, it got 106 Republican votes, demonstrating that the GOP can deliver votes on cannabis legislation. But the MORE Act that passed the House in the last Congress – the one with criminal retroactivity – received only five Republican votes. The current MORE Act has collected only one Republican co-sponsor.

cotton181219The problem is that most bills spend months in committee with no movement, or they pass in the House only to the Senate before dying out. And with mid-terms putting all of the House and a third of Senate up for re-election in November and crime rates shooting up, getting legislators on board for criminal justice reform is going to be more challenging.

And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). Last week, he wrote in Real Clear Politics:

Unfortunately, soft-on-crime policies have been, at times, a bipartisan problem. In 2018, Republicans passed the pro-criminal First Step Act. That deeply flawed legislation reduced sentences for crack dealers and granted early release to some child predators, carjackers, gang members, and bank robbers. Ironically, this jailbreak bill even provided early release for those who helped prisoners break out of jail. This misguided push by Republicans to win applause from liberals strengthened the hand of radicals like George Soros. In a political environment where the parties compete for who can be more pro-criminal, the Democrats will always win.

People like Cotton make even common-sense federal criminal justice reform a hard sell.

Reason, In 2021, Qualified Immunity Reform Died a Slow, Painful Death (December 30, 2021)

Forbes, The Least Eventful Year for Marijuana (December 31, 2021)

San Francisco Chronicle, Biden’s agenda is stuck. It doesn’t have to be that way with criminal justice reform (January 1, 2022)

S. 79: EQUAL Act

H.R. 3617, MORE Act

S. 1013: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021

S. 1014: First Step Implementation Act of 2021

Brookings Institution, The numbers for drug reform in Congress don’t add up (December 22, 2021)

Real Clear Politics, Recall, Remove & Replace Every Last Soros Prosecutor (December 20, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root