House Bill 1200, a bid to legalize recreational cannabis in Pennsylvania, apparently has been killed in a state Senate committee.
By a 7-3 vote Tuesday, the Senate Law & Justice Committee chose not to advance the bill, which passed the state House by a party-line 102-101 vote.
Voting no were committee Chair Sen. Daniel Laughlin, R-Erie, who favors legalized marijuana but not through a system similar to that of the state-owned liquor stores, as well as Vice Chair Sen. Joe Picozzi, R-Philadelphia; Senate President Pro Tem Kim Ward, R-Hempfield Township, in an ex officio role; Republican Sens. Dawn Keefer of York County; Tracy Pennycuick of Montgomery County; and Devlin Robinson of Allegheny County; as well as one Democrat, Sen. Lisa Boscola of Lehigh County.
Voting yes were Democratic Sens. Marty Flynn of Lackawanna County, Wayne Fontana of Allegheny County and Christine Tartaglione of Philadelphia.
Sen. Frank Farry, R-Bucks County, did not vote.
After the House vote, Laughlin said there was “zero chance that the state store model will make it through the Senate.” Laughlin has sought support along with Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, for a bill that “mandates product testing for safety, purity, and potency, ensuring consumer protection while helping eliminate the risks tied to the unregulated black market.”
HB 1200, as proposed by Reps. Rick Krajewski, D-Philadelphia, and Dan Frankel, D-Pittsburgh, was sent to the Senate while a bill proposed by Reps. Abby Major, R-Leechburg, and Emily Kinkead, D-Pittsburgh, never was introduced.
Major said HB 1200, “besides the fact that this would require state employees and the state itself to violate federal law, risking the freezing of employees’ personal and state bank accounts and the State’s access to federal funding,” it was “a costly and inefficient approach for the Commonwealth; posing significant risks to our economy, our medical program, social equity, and public health and safety.”
