A top Minnesota lawmaker says that she expects marijuana legalization to be included in the governor’s forthcoming budget request, though she reiterated that the reform “will take a long time” to move through the legislature.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) told MinnPost that she’s optimistic that there’s enough momentum in her chamber to enact legalization, pointing out that the House has already passed such legislation in a past session and that the Democratic caucus “has gotten more progressive on that issue and not less so.”
“I don’t know about the Minnesota Senate. I would be surprised if they didn’t also have the votes,” she said. “I know that the governor is on board. I would expect it will be in the governor’s budget, which is a massive step forward because it’s his agencies that need to implement the law.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D) included funding for implementing legalization in his executive budget request this year, but lawmakers were unable to enact the policy change. He’s expressed confidence that the issue will move in the upcoming session, especially since the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party won a slim majority in the Senate while retaining its control of the House.
But Walz and Hortman have
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