Virginia legislators have rejected Governor. Glenn Youngkin (R)’s proposed changes to the medical marijuana measure already passed by Virginia lawmakers sent the measure back his desk.
They also adopted, in a separate voting session, amendments that the Governor had proposed to an additional bill which would seal past records of cannabis offenses.
In the meantime, the Legislature upheld Youngkin’s refusal to approve legislation to allow recreational cannabis sales, to provide relief for people who have been convicted of cannabis offenses, or to protect parental rights.
Youngkin, a state legislator, recommended late last month that a bill be amended to change the rules of medical marijuana in California. He advised them to delete language that allowed marijuana to be sent to locations other than the patient’s home and allow independent contractors as delivery agents.
On Wednesday, however, the House of Representatives declined to make those changes to the bill—HB 1989, from Del. Alex Askew.
Youngkin will now have to decide whether to either veto or pass the unamended bill.
The bill had strong support in both chambers, passing the Senate on a 30–10 vote and winning final approval in the House on an 84–14 margin.
On Wednesday, both chambers of the legislature separately accepted changes requested by Governor to a proposed proposal that seals past criminal records related to marijuana.
As passed by lawmakers, the legislation—passed as both HB 2723 and SB 1466—would extend a state-mandated expungement process set in 2021, giving local governments another 12 months to make required changes. In addition, the legislation will require that non-conviction records be automatically sealed in cases such as arrests and cases which are dismissed or deferred.
Youngkin wrote to legislators that he “approve[s] It was returned to the committee with modifications that focused mainly on moving back by six-months implementation dates of various provisions.
The Senate and House of Representatives both approved the changes made by the Governor to their respective bills.
Youngkin’s amendment recommendation came at the same moment he was vetoing other cannabis related measures. These included efforts to punish people who are serving jail time for cannabis crimes and protect parental rights of users. In the same way he vetoed his plan to legalize retail marijuana sales, the governor also rejected a similar proposal from a previous year.
Youngkin stated in his veto declaration that “the legislation endangers Virginians’ health and security.”
The House and Senate failed to overcome the Governor’s vetoes of these bills on Wednesday.
Without the Governor’s action, a separate cannabis-related piece of legislation is set to take effect: A House joint resolution re-establishing a legislative commission that would oversee and study the implementation of the marijuana laws in the state. Many see this as an indication that the legislature will take further action on cannabis.
HJ 497 will create a joint commission of lawmakers—six from the House, four from the Senate—to study the state’s cannabis system, oversee the implementation of marijuana laws and make recommendations about future legislative changes.
The commonwealth had a similar body, which was disbanded last year after the legislation creating it expired.
SB 1101 from Sen. Ghazala Hahmi, a Democrat senator, was one of the substance-related measures that did not make it to Governor’s Desk this year. This proposal was intended to pave the way for psychedelic assisted therapy among veterans. It would have done so by establishing a council that could study and recommend treatments involving FDA-designated breakthrough therapies, including substances like psilocybin and MDMA.
While the bill was approved by the full Senate this session, a House panel unanimously voted to set it aside indefinitely.
Hashmi, along with his supporters, had claimed that the bill was necessary to curb a mental health crisis among veterans in Virginia. The state has a high number of veteran military personnel.
The suicide rate among veteran is significantly higher than that of the civilian population. “Given that there is a large veteran population in Virginia, we feel this legislation to be especially important,” Hashmi told the Senate.
The measure was an updated version of a similar proposal last year, SB 229, that also cleared the Senate but didn’t make it out of the House.
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Side Pocket Images. Image courtesy Chris Wallis.