USA Roundup: Illinois, Puerto Rico, Texas

ILLINOIS

Push To Legalize Weed Still On In Illinois To Help Solve Budget Problems

 

CHICAGO — A push to solve the state’s fiscal crisis by legalizing marijuana will continue in January when lawmakers return to Springfield for a new session, one of the lawmakers behind the effort said.

Two bills authored by state Sen. Heather Steans and state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both from Edgewater, were not brought to a vote before the end of the regular legislative session in June — by design, to give the lawmakers time to gather feedback on the measure, Steans said.

The new version of the legislation is likely to be significantly different than the version introduced in March, Steans said.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170710/edgewater/legal-marijuana-pot-legalization-weed-recreational-state-law-heather-steans-kelly-cassidy-gov-bruce-rauner

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico Governor Signs Medicinal Marijuana Bill

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/puerto-rico-governor-signs-medicinal-marijuana-bill

Puerto Rico became the latest corner of US to adopt a medical marijuana law, with the territory’s governor on Sunday signing a bill that legalizes and regulates the plant for medical use.

Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed the Law to Improve the Study, Development and Research of Cannabis for Innovation, Applicable Norms and Limits (MEDICINAL Law). The territory’s previous administration signed an executive order in 2015 to legalize medical cannabis, but Rosselló said that move was insufficient.

TEXAS

Medical marijuana bill filed in special Texas legislative session

http://txcann.com/medical-marijuana-bill-filed-special-texas-legislative-session/

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called state legislators back to Austin for a special legislative session. Lawmakers began filing legislation today, and one of them revives a medical marijuana bill from earlier this year.

Now called HB 85, the bill is somewhat identical to HB 2107 which establishes a whole plant medical marijuana program. Both bills were filed by Rep. Eddy Lucio III (D-Brownsville).

“My staff and I are ready to consider and vote on all bills during this Special Session,” Rep. Lucio III stated. “But I believe there are just as important items that must be addressed in our state, so important that I too have filed a bill crucial to so many people across the state and across our nation.”

He added, “As of today, I have filed house bill 85 ‘relating to authorizing the possession, use, cultivation, distribution, transportation, and delivery of medical cannabis for medical use by patience with certain deliberating medical conditions and the licensing of dispensing organizations and cannabis testing facilities’. In other words, I have re-filed HB 2107, the same bill I filed during the regular session.”

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