EDITOR’S NOTE: On Oct. 2, NJ Cannabis Insider hosts its fall live event at the New Jersey Convention & Expo Center, featuring leaders in the medical marijuana and legal cannabis industries. Tickets are limited.

After more than a year of delays, state lawmakers are poised to cast some type of vote in the weeks after Election Day on plans to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, NJ Advance Media has learned.

But the question remains whether they will vote on a proposed law making weed legal or on placing a referendum on the November 2020 ballot asking Garden State voters to decide.

Either way, a vote on one of those two proposals will happen in the upcoming “lame duck” period that stretches from early November to early January, according to four legislative sources familiar with the situation.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

This is the latest development in the more than year-long effort by Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow Democrats who lead the state Legislature to make New Jersey the next state to legalize pot — something polls show a majority of residents support.

Murphy and legislative leaders tried and failed in March to convince enough lawmakers to pass the bill, falling a handful of votes short of the 21 needed for the measure to succeed in the state Senate. State Assembly leaders say they have the 41 votes needed in their chamber.

Then, after initially calling off further vote corralling, Senate President Stephen Sweeney told NJ Advance Media in August he was open to taking another shot at the bill.

On Tuesday, Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said “nothing has changed."

“If I think I got 21 votes, I’ll put it up for a vote,” he added.

And nothing is likely to change before November’s elections, when all 80 seats in the Assembly are on the ballot. Lawmakers don’t want to be pressured to take a stance on the matter before Election Day.

That leaves “lame duck,” the period between the elections and early January, when the new Assembly members are sworn in. Lawmakers often wait until that timeframe to take action on controversial matters.

Several sources said there’s a chance the marijuana bill could finally pass then.

“Very much so," said Bill Caruso, an attorney who represents various cannabis-related clients and is a founding member of New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform.

That’s largely because lawmakers are concerned the longer this effort takes, the more people will be arrested for pot. New Jersey arrested 34,500 people on marijuana offenses in 2017, more than any other state in the nation.

“We are starting to see members of the Legislature are coming around as maybe seeing legalization is the best option,” Caruso said.

A senior official in Murphy’s administration said the governor’s office remains willing to help secure votes.

Still, sources said if leaders can’t muster enough votes by lame duck, they’ll turn to Plan B instead.

That involves a measure approving a ballot question in November 2020 asking New Jersey voters whether they approve of legalizing weed. Sources said that should not be a problem, because some lawmakers opposed to pot have been open to letting the public decide.

Most of the 11 states that have legalized recreational marijuana have done so by referendum. Two states have accomplished it legislatively: Vermont, last year, and Illinois, in June.

New Jersey lawmakers need either to approve a referendum one time by a three-fifths majority in the Senate and Assembly or by simply majorities in back-to-back years. That means to guarantee it’ll get on next year’s ballot, both houses would likely vote on the question in the lame duck period.

Assemblyman Jamel Holley, D-Union, said he’s opposed to a referendum because lawmakers would have to ask voters to approve any changes they want to make in the future.

“I feel pretty confident if we take one more shot (at the bill), we should get it accomplished,” Assemblyman he said.

But three sources said it’ll be tough getting to 21 votes in the Senate because a number of lawmakers remain “hard no" votes and are unlikely to switch. Both Democrats and Republican lawmakers have expressed either skepticism or outright opposition.

If the issue does go to referendum, you likely won’t be able to legally smoke pot in New Jersey until early 2021.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

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

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