Joseph Shekarchi still says legalization won’t be decided until after the budget process ends , the Senate Judiciary Committee, by a 6-2 vote, sent a cannabis legalization bill to the full Senate.
The Senate bill reserves one-third of retail licenses for communities disproportionately hurt by previous marijuana enforcement, but otherwise green-lights a legalization initiative that has several times appeared to be off track this year.
In a statement issued prior to the vote, Rhode Island Senate President Dominick J.
Interestingly, the Senate vote came just days after House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi indicated that legalization would not be taken up by the House until later this year.
Marijuana would be subject to the state’s seven percent sales tax, in addition to a 10 percent special tax and a three percent local tax for jurisdictions that allow cannabis firms to operate in their area.
And while the legislation would limit people or entities from being granted more than one marijuana business license, or owning, managing, or operating more than one licensed entity, the version as passed by the Senate clarifies that a person is not prohibited from “investing” in multiple licensed entities.
The passage of the Senate bill is an historic moment in the marijuana legalization campaign in Rhode Island: not only did a legalization proposal finally reach a vote in the legislature, it passed the Senate overwhelmingly.
This website uses cookies to improve user experience, track anonymous site usage, store authorization tokens and permit sharing on social media networks.