LePage Demands Stall Marijuana Law

Yesterday the already tumultuous story of LD 88, "An Act To Delay the Implementation of Certain Portions of the Marijuana Legalization Act" took an increasingly intriguing turn when the bill was enacted by the Legislature but failed to meet Governor LePage's policy demands.

LD 88 was introduced by Rep. Louis Luchini (D-Ellsworth) earlier this month in response to last November's passage of referendum Question 1, which legalized recreational marijuana use. The ballot initiative failed to include language that could ensure minors would not be able to legally purchase or possess marijuana and this necessitated an amendment broadly accepted by the marijuana industry and community.

A more contentious aspect of the bill was to delay implementation of rule-making for three months, which was widely regarded as a heavy-handed delay of the implementation of the entire referendum. This common misconception frustrated stakeholders and many lawmakers during the bill's public hearing and work sessions as marijuana activists lambasted what they considered nefarious intent.

During the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs' time working the bill Governor LePage made relatively little comment and did not get directly involved in goings-on around the document. That all changed during the middle part of this week, however, when the Blaine House began making noise that the Governor would veto an otherwise smooth ascendency of LD 88 if it did not hand retail licensing authority to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations rather than house it under the Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry.

The left flank of the House Democratic Caucus was always uncomfortable with any mention of "delay" in relation to Question 1 and so the ground was fertile for knee-jerk disagreement when House Republicans sponsored a floor amendment proposing to make LePage's demanded changes, which also included 1.6 million dollars to better fund rule-making. The amendment was rejected in the House yesterday morning and both bodies of the Legislature moved swiftly to enact the bill in its original form.

There continued to be much uncertainty, though, as Governor LePage's threat to veto LD 88 loomed large over the Legislature. He is capable of holding the bill for ten business days without signing it or allowing it to become law and has been known to wait till the last hour to issue vetoes.

At 4 pm yesterday afternoon legislative leadership met with the Governor to try to avert an impending "crisis." They feared failing to have the bill signed by the Governor before the January 30 implementation of Question 1. The Governor indicated he might not issue a veto, and the media has reported he has refused to sign or veto it but there is broad consensus within the State House that any gubernatorial action during the next ten business days is possible.

VLA Reports out Marijuana Amendment

The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee (“VLA”) held a public hearing on Tuesday of this week on LD 88, which lasted for just under four hours with several dozen members of the public testifying. There were more people there to testify against the bill, mainly organized by Paul McCarrier and Legalize Maine.

VLA met yesterday to work LD 88 a second time. They voted unanimously to support amendments and completed language review. The bill will be on the House calendar on Tuesday, so it can get it to the Governor as soon as possible.

The Committee addressed several issues:

1. Definitions: the amendment replaces the initiative definitions with definitions that mirror the criminal definitions. They try to refer to both marijuana and marijuana concentrate together mostly throughout the amendment when possible.
2. Minor issue: the Committee adopted their own provision specifically tied to prohibiting possession and applying tiered penalties. They opted to pass the comprehensive minor provisions on to the joint select committee to address.
3. Non-public definition: the Committee opted to limit to private residence "including curtilage" or "private property, not generally accessible to the public." There was a lot of discussion around use in motor vehicles (while in operation, buses, RVs, etc.), but they settled on focusing the language on consumption in a motor vehicle while the vehicle is in operation. They prohibit use on property used for daycares and in designated smoking areas under the Workplace Smoking Act. They apply fines for violations.
4. Rulemaking: adoption "shall" occur 9 months after the effective date of the MLA. The Department of Agriculture will be allowed to delegate rulemaking to the Department of Administrative and Financial Services and the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery.
5. Amounts: they used the MA language 2.5 oz of marijuana "except that no more than 5 grams may be in the form of marijuana concentrate." They opted to defer the weight issue - distinguishing this weight from the weight of the product (brownies, butter, etc.) - to the joint select committee.