HARRISBURG, P.A. (KYW Newsradio) — Democrats in the Pennsylvania House are calling on State Senate Republicans to stop blocking marijuana legalization and come to the table with ideas. It comes as Governor Josh Shapiro once again called on the state legislature to pass a legalization bill.
The House passed a bill last May, but it was killed in the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee. Dissenting committee members because it offered a sales model that was similar to state-run liquor stores. Republicans also did not offer an alternate option.
House Health Committee Chairman Dan Frankel said Pennsylvania is the only state out of its neighbors, aside from West Virginia, to not pass a marijuana legalization bill.
“The Senate's refusal to act on adult-use cannabis means letting our neighbors make the rules and keep the revenue that money should be supporting our schools, our transit systems, our communities, here at home,” said Frankel.
Philadelphia Democrat and State House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris said the topic of marijuana legalization in the state “is not even a debatable topic anymore.”
“I think the public has made it very clear, and has done so for years, that the prohibition on cannabis, those days are over,” he continued.
Frankel said there are no plans to pass another bill out of the House until the Senate takes action.
Erie County Republican Senator Dan Laughlin and Philadelphia Democrat Sharif Street have introduced a legalization bill. It’s been sitting in the Law and Justice Committee, which Laughlin chairs, since July.