Virginia senators have advanced an amended bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales in the Commonwealth toward a floor vote while removing new criminal penalties that were recently added to the measure—setting the stage for negotiations between both chambers of the legislature as they work to enact differing versions of the reform.
At a hearing before the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on Thursday, members passed the legislation from Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) in a 7-5 vote, along with several amendments that were adopted by the panel’s Resources Subcommittee earlier in the day.
This was the last committee stop for the Senate bill, meaning it will next go to the full Senate for consideration at the same time that a House of Delegates version of cannabis sales legalization legislation is set to go to the floor in that chamber.
While both are aimed at giving adults a legal means of buying marijuana, the possession and home cultivation of which was legalized in the state in 2021, there are several substantive differences that will need to be resolved before the reform potentially goes to the governor’s desk.
In the Senate subcommittee on Thursday, members adopted revisions to increase the conversion fee for
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