A Senate proposal to legalize commercial sales of marijuana in Virginia has passed a key hurdle, clearing the Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services in a 10–5 vote on Friday morning. The bill needs to advance quickly through additional committees in the coming weeks in order to stay alive in the current session.
The measure, SB 448, from Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), would begin licensing adult-use marijuana businesses in July of this year, though retail licenses wouldn’t be available until 2025. Local governments would be able to ban commercial cannabis activity, but only with approval from voters.
With the committee’s approval, the measure next advances to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee next week. From there it would go to the Finance and Appropriations Committee, where it needs to land by February 5 to stay in play. There’s also a crossover deadline on February 13, before which point the Senate would need to send the bill to the House, which is considering its own cannabis sales legislation.
“We are working very hard to establish a framework that articulates a set of values on how we want this market to evolve,” Sen. Barbara Favola (D), who chairs the Rehabilitation and Social
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