A key House committee will meet on Wednesday to vote on a series of criminal justice reform bills, including bipartisan proposals to clear records for prior federal marijuana convictions, provide funding for states that implement systems of automatic expungements and codify retroactive relief for people incarcerated due to on crack-cocaine sentencing disparities.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), is holding the markup about five months after the full chamber passed a cannabis legalization bill for the second time that also included expungements provisions.
It seems unlikely that the Senate will move that legislation, or a separate legalization bill from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), given the steep 60-vote threshold and resistance from most GOP lawmakers, as well as some skepticism from certain Democrats. But bipartisan and bicameral talk about enacting incremental reform has picked up, with an expectation that the Senate will soon file a package of modest marijuana bills that could include other expungement-related proposals.
While existing standalone cannabis expungements measures being discussed as part of that yet-to-be-introduced cannabis omnibus aren’t the ones that are set for committee votes on Wednesday, the fact that House leadership is taking steps to advance the issue in
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