Ohio House Republicans introduce two bills to tweak Issue 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohioans are just one week away from recreational marijuana becoming legal and lawmakers at the Statehouse are still weighing their options.

Regardless, next Thursday, it will be legal for Ohioans over 21 to both possess marijuana and grow it in their homes. No dispensaries will be open come Dec. 7. The first licenses for those likely won’t be issued until next fall.  But because Issue 2 was an initiated statute, it changes the Ohio Revised Code, which means here legislators do have that authority.

“We are being very thoughtful about the legislation that was passed by the voters. We want to be respectful of that, we also want to have the guardrails in place,” Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said.

What to expect as Issue 1 takes effect in one week

Some of those guardrails, Stephens said, include making sure advertising is not targeted towards kids.

No full repeal of the law has been proposed at the Statehouse,  but two bills to modify the law have been introduced by House Republicans. One focuses on tweaking the tax distribution and another would allow municipalities to ban some provisions of the law, like home grow. But Stephens said they are still hashing out details.

“What is an important issue to some is not an important issue to others and vice versa,” he said. “So, trying to pull that together with the understanding of creating an industry and market that has not officially existed in the state of Ohio before.”

Stephens said he sees no immediate rush to get things passed, he said he wants to make sure it is done right.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s marijuana or soybeans or oil, there are certain rules for alcohol, tobacco that these industries have established over decades,” Stephens said. “And trying to start from scratch is not the easiest thing to do.”

But Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said they want to amend House Bill 86 next week, which is in the Senate General Government Committee, to include revisions to the marijuana law and get something passed before Dec. 7.

“It would be better for people going forward to know what the law is than people begin spending money or taking actions and then the law changes six months from now or 90 days, you know, a year from now,” Huffman said.

Huffman said the committee hearings for House Bill 86 will likely start Monday to have a floor vote by Wednesday. The Senate’s plan is to pass the bill with an emergency clause, so it goes into effect right away, rather than the typical 90 days, after the governor signs it.

That takes more votes to accomplish, that Huffman said they have in the Senate. But the House would have to concur with the changes to the vote.

“If we can get to something we can get an emergency clause on, that would be great,” Stephens said. “We are coalescing around some ideas that can gain the support of the majority of the House.”

Huffman said he wants to look at things like tax distribution, THC levels, and market control.

“One of the things I want to avoid, and a lot of people want to avoid is having marijuana stores everywhere,” Huffman said. “You can’t open a liquor store anywhere you want. You have to have a permit and the size of your population of your local community determines the number of local liquor permits you have, so I think it has to be somewhat limited.”

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) has said would like the legislature to get something done before the law goes into effect, NBC4 asked him this week what he has heard from Statehouse leadership.

“I think you’re going to see some action shortly, but we’ve been having conversations with them about what we’re interested in, they’ve told us some of the things they’re interested in and I think you’ll have some information shortly,” he said.

Marijuana is still illegal federally, and the state law will not completely trump federal laws, so buying it in another state and bringing it back to Ohio or any other state is still illegal, even if marijuana is legal in both states.

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