nothin Looney Testifies For Legal Pot | New Haven Independent

Looney Testifies For Legal Pot

More than 13 percent of the people in Connecticut used marijuana in 2015, most of them buying it illegally.

Because they bought it illegally, they might be sold marijuana tainted with harmful contaminants, [be] offered hard drugs, or even physically assaulted.”

The cops enforce marijuana prohibition” in a racially disparate manner.”

Meanwhile, our neighbors in Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts have legalized recreational marijuana. New Jersey and Rhode Island are seriously considering” doing the same.

It’s time we do, too.

New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney made those arguments Monday while testifying before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee in favor of a Senate bill to legalize the sale and recreational use of marijuana.

It is time we take the rational common-sense approach to marijuana, as we did with alcohol: regulating and taxing it,” testified Looney, who’s the president pro tempore of the State Senate.

The hearing did not draw a big crowd of people to testify, suggesting legalization might not have a great chance of passing this year in a short legislative session.

The bill Looney promoted would task the Department of Consumer Protection to come up with ways to encourage people who are part of communities that have been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement” to apply for licenses to sell it. Click here to read a New York Times article on why Oakland, California, is doing just that, while Compton, California, has chosen not to. And click here for a longer previous Independent article on the debate this session over legalization.

Looney also promoted legalization as a job creator: He cited a recent estimate that the legal cannabis market will create more than a quarter of a million jobs nationally.” It created 18,000-plus full-time jobs and contributed $2.4 billion to the economy in Colorado alone in 2015, he said.

The 2018 Agenda

Bill #StatusSummarySponsors
HB 5001In Committee
Died on the Floor
To impose a fee on transactions involving virtual currency.Pat Dillon
HB 5031
SB 4
In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Passed
Gov. Signed
To allow students to have equal access to institutional financial aid.Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
HB 5082In Committee
Committee Approved
Died on the Floor
To provide state funds to assist hurricane victims from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who are living in Connecticut.Juan Candelaria
HB 5126In Committee
Died on the Floor
To increase funding to boards of education and family resource centers that provide assistance to students and families from Puerto Rico.Juan Candelaria
HB 5112In Committee
Sent to the Floor
Died on the Floor
To permit the retail sale of marijuana and tax such sale to raise revenue for the General Fund and to fund substance abuse treatment, prevention, education and awareness programs.Juan R. Candelaria, Angel Arce, Josh Elliott, Steven J. Stafstrom, Jeff Currey, Susan M. Johnson, Chris Soto, Patricia A. Dillon, Roland J. Lemar, James M. Albis, Christopher Rosario, Kim Rose, Robyn A. Porter, Edwin Vargas, Matthew Lesser, Gregory Haddad, Joshua Malik Hall, Ezequiel Santiago, Diana S. Urban, Toni E. Walker, Robert Sanchez, Alphonse Paolillo
SB 1In Committee
Died on the Floor
To expand the sick leave program to provide earned family and medical leave to certain individuals employed in this state.Martin M. Looney, Bob Duff, Timothy D. Larson, Steve Cassano, Beth Bye, Terry B. Gerratana, Gary A. Winfield, Ted Kennedy, Catherine A. Osten, Marilyn V. Moore, Edwin A. Gomes, Mae Flexer
SB 62In Committee
Died on the Floor
To provide tuition-free community college for Connecticut residents.Martin M. Looney
HB 5182In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Died on the Floor
To require building officials in certain municipalities to establish and assess a fee for the commencement of certain work without a necessary permit.Planning and Development Committee
HB 5210In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Passed
To (1) mandate insurance coverage of essential health benefits, (2) expand mandated health benefits for women, children and adolescents, and (3) expand mandated contraception benefits.Insurance and Real Estate Committee
HB 5084In Committee
Died on the Floor
To encourage the recycling of nip bottles that otherwise frequently litter urban areas.Roland J. Lemar and Juan R. Candelaria
HB 5350
HB 5537
In Committee
Committee Denied
Sent to the Floor
Died on the Floor
To create a pilot program for shared solar facilities at municipal airports. The bill also would delete the provision that dictates the length of Tweed Airport’s runway.Energy and Technology Committee
HB 5475In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Passed
To amend statutory provisions concerning a police officer’s viewing of a recording from body-worn recording equipment under certain circumstances.Judiciary Committee
HB 5515 In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Passed
To permit a zoning commission to regulate the brightness and illumination of advertising signs and billboards.Judiciary Committee
HB 5540In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Died on the Floor
To ban guns without serial numbers and regulate those which are sold in a form requiring the purchaser to finish assembly or that are homemade and to permit local authorities to interview immediate family members as part of a determination of an applicant’s suitability.Judiciary Committee
HB 5542In Committee
Committee Approved
Sent to the Floor
Passed
To ban the sale or transfer, possession, manufacturing or use of bump stocks or other accessories to increase the rate of fire of a firearm.Judiciary Committee

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