A Senate committee hearing tentatively scheduled for this weekend has been stalled to Tuesday to give bill sponsors more time.
And even with the few extra days, those following the debate over cannabis legalization in New Mexico can’t be sure what to expect, as proponents of competing legislation are keeping potential compromises close to the vest.
Last Saturday, Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Chairman Benny Shendo, D-Jemez Springs, and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, told backers of four proposed legalization bills presented to that committee that they should get together and return with consensus in a week for a second hearing. But even those instructions left vague whether the chairman would schedule all the bills again, just one of them, or some combination. Wirth tells SFR the committee hearing is now set to take place Tuesday because the parties working on compromise “needed more time.”
The clock is ticking on the session that wraps March 20. Legislators have said there’s plenty of time to shepherd some version of a regulatory structure for adult use and taxation on the plant to a successful Senate vote. But they’ve also cautioned that a procedural misstep could lead to another year of no action.
House Bill 12 cleared the lower chamber Feb. 26 on a 39-31 floor vote. If lawmakers amend the bill in its next stops—a pair of Senate committees—and recommend its adoption on the Senate floor, it would then move to a concurrence committee…
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A Senate committee hearing tentatively scheduled for this weekend has been stalled to Tuesday to give bill sponsors more time.
And even with the few extra days, those following the debate over cannabis legalization in New Mexico can’t be sure what to expect, as proponents of competing legislation are keeping potential compromises close to the vest.
Last Saturday, Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Chairman Benny Shendo, D-Jemez Springs, and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, told backers of four proposed legalization bills presented to that committee that they should get together and return with consensus in a week for a second hearing. But even those instructions left vague whether the chairman would schedule all the bills again, just one of them, or some combination. Wirth tells SFR the committee hearing is now set to take place Tuesday because the parties working on compromise “needed more time.”
The clock is ticking on the session that wraps March 20. Legislators have said there’s plenty of time to shepherd some version of a regulatory structure for adult use and taxation on the plant to a successful Senate vote. But they’ve also cautioned that a procedural misstep could lead to another year of no action.
House Bill 12 cleared the lower chamber Feb. 26 on a 39-31 floor vote. If lawmakers amend the bill in its next stops—a pair of Senate committees—and recommend its adoption on the Senate floor, it would then move to a concurrence committee…
