THE LATEST: What Phil Murphy just said after big N.J. legal weed vote was called off

Top state lawmakers have canceled a planned vote Monday on a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in New Jersey, saying they simply haven’t gathered enough support in the state Senate.

But they vowed to take up the measure — one of Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature proposals — at a future date.

“We’ll be back at this," state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said at a news conference shortly after the vote was called off at the Statehouse in Trenton. “So anybody who thinks this is dead, they’re wrong.”

“This is an issue that’s not going away," Sweeney said. "The legalization of adult-use marijuana will get passed in the state of New Jersey, one way or another.”

Lawmakers are expected to schedule another vote sometime this year, perhaps as soon as May.

Asked when a vote would ultimately be held, Sweeney said: “As soon as I have 21 votes for sure.”

NJ Advance Media was the first to report Sweeney called off the vote. He made the decision after it became clear the Senate — the upper house of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature — would remain a handful of votes shy of the minimum 21 needed for passage.

The move also postpones two other measures tied to the bill: one that would expand the state’s oft-criticized medial marijuana program and another that would expunge thousands of pot convictions in the state.

The development is a setback for Murphy’s promise to legalize marijuana — a key plank in the Democrat’s platform when he won election in 2017.

The push for votes Monday was seen as a referendum not only on whether legislative Democrats could muster support but also how well Murphy could work with lawmakers to pass one of his cornerstone proposals 14 months into his governorship.

Murphy and legislative leaders worked feverishly over the last week, making dozens of phone calls, to persuade lawmakers to pass the Democratic-sponsored bill.

While Sweeney said they’ve made “headway,” he admitted he “may have under-estimated the challenge of getting this passed.”

“We need to learn from this experience and continue to move forward,” the Senate president said.

Murphy has made no public comment so far Monday, though he’s scheduled to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. in Trenton.

Both houses of the Legislature — the Senate and Assembly — need to pass the bill before Murphy can sign it into law.

Multiple sources told NJ Advance Media the Assembly had the 41 votes needed for it to pass Monday. But sources said only 17 or 18 members of the Senate were willing to vote yes as of about noon.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, confirmed to NJ Advance Media that the bill would have passed the Assembly had it been posted Monday.

But, Coughlin said, the important thing is that he, Sweeney, and Murphy “worked very closely” on the matter.

“If the effort failed, then the effort would have failed for all of us," he said.

Coughlin said during a news conference of his own that lawmakers “remain committed” to pass a “fair” bill that will serve as “a national model.”

Asked when the new vote would be, Coughlin said: “It’s way too early to tell.”

Murphy and top Democratic lawmakers have been seeking for more than a year to have New Jersey join 10 other states and Washington, D.C., that have legalized pot. But they prefer to become only the second state to do it legislatively, rather than through a ballot referendum.

Proponents say the goal of legalization is to increase tax revenue for the state, create a new industry, and improve social justice because black people are three times more likely to be arrested on pot charges than whites.

Recent polls have found a majority of New Jerseyans support legal pot, with a Monmouth University survey from last month showing 6 in 10 residents behind it.

But many lawmakers — Democratic and Republican — have been leery, saying it could erode public safety, lead people to try more dangerous drugs, and damage communities of color.

Murphy has said if Monday’s vote fell apart, his administration would move to dramatically increase the number of licenses for cultivators of medical marijuana as a backup plan.

Sweeney said earlier this year said he wouldn’t schedule another vote until after the November elections at the earliest. But he hinted Monday it could happen sooner.

If leaders ultimately fail to gather enough votes in the Legislature, it’s possible they could opt for asking New Jersey voters to decide in a ballot referendum next year whether to legalize weed.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Susan K. Livio, Samantha Marcus, Ted Sherman, and Justin Zaremba contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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