COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the year winding down for the Ohio General Assembly, lawmakers are still working to make changes to the law voters passed in November making recreational marijuana legal in Ohio. Their work could carry over into next year after the holiday break.
The Issue 2 law, as voters passed it, took effect on Dec. 7. So, recreational marijuana is legal, but there is no place to buy it.
As the House Finance Committee hears more testimony this week on House Bill 354 that would make changes to the Issue two law, lawmakers in both parties and both chambers negotiate how the new law should be fully implemented.
Key issues include the rate at which marijuana sales and cultivation should be taxed and where the revenue should go.
"I think we want to make sure that the tax rate is not so high that, number one, that in places like Toledo that we're sending people across state lines," Democratic House Minority Leader Allison Russo said. "Number two that we're just incentivizing the black market."
"There are certain buckets that we all agree, law enforcement, mental health addiction services, local communities," said Republican State Representative Jamie Callender who sponsored House BIll 354.
Last week, the Ohio Senate passed a bill that would, among other things, allow recreational marijuana to be sold at medical marijuana dispensaries immediately.
"I think that is something to consider. I think it's not a horrible idea," Republican Speaker of the House Jason Stephens said. "It's just how do you actually administer those types of things."
The Senate bill would also expunge the records of those with prior convictions for possessing marijuana.
"I think that's something the house and senate both agree on. It's just a matter of how," Stephens said.
As the negotiations go on, Stephens said he does not think anything about marijuana will be on the House floor for a vote on Wednesday.
"We can't let the urgent get in the way of the important," Stephens said. "And the reason is it's just such a big change in Ohio's law, culture, all of these things that we need to be deliberative about it."
"The status quo is Issue 2 as it was passed by voters," Russo said. "So this is moving forward if we don't act, which is certainly an interesting position to be in when you're doing negotiations."
"We want to make sure we get it right rather than quickly," Callender said.
The legislature is set to go on holiday break after this week.
A breakthrough could happen on marijuana legislation in the next couple days, but Speaker Stephens said this not a lame duck legislature and more sessions are scheduled for January.