Bipartisan House lawmakers have refiled another bill to federally legalize marijuana, while taking steps to preserve existing state cannabis markets.
Sponsored by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), the States Reform Act was first introduced in 2021, serving as an alternative to a Democratic-led legalization proposal that’s cleared the House twice in recent years. At that time, Mace’s bill had only GOP cosponsors.
The text of the new version of the legislation, which has has a handful of both Democrats and Republicans signed on, isn’t available yet, so it’s unclear if there have been meaningful changes. Even more uncertain are its prospects of advancing under the GOP-controlled House, where the speaker position remains vacant after three weeks following the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the leadership role.
As a condition of her vote on a bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut certain federal programs, Mace said that she secured a commitment from the former speaker to hold a committee markup on her cannabis bill—but that never happened. Mace was among the handful of Republican members to boot the speaker this month, citing unfulfilled promises without explicitly noting the marijuana markup pledge.
In any case, the States Reform Act
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