New Jersey towns that proactively passed local bans on selling marijuana will have to do so again if the bill up for a vote Monday becomes law.

The 175-page bill, dubbed the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory and Expungement Aid Modernization Act,” would allow possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults over 21 and clear the records of those with marijuana-related convictions. It also would lay the framework for regulating and taxing a new billion-dollar industry.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, made legalization a major campaign promise and has supported the measure.

If the bill passes, and Murphy signs it, sales of legal weed could begin around January of next year, after regulators create rules around licenses, permits, inspections, enforcement, labeling and other aspects of the new industry.

And that legal framework includes the ability for municipalities to opt out.

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Towns throughout the state enacted measures against both medicinal and recreational marijuana months in advance of the historic vote. Once legalization becomes law, those ordinances will become void, forcing municipalities to adopt new ones, the bill says.

"If it has to be done, it has to be done." said Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi.

Clifton voted unanimously in 2018 to prohibit the selling and growing of recreational marijuana within city limits.

"We passed [the ordinance] 7-0 and still have strong feelings about it," Anzaldi said.

The Borough Council of Westwood also enacted an ordinance last year, but Mayor John Birkner thought it was premature, specifically for the reason that the state legislators would require towns to redo their ordinances if a bill became law.

"It was a waste of time," Birkner said.

He opposes recreational use of marijuana but supports a medical marijuana "growth facility or warehouse" near the town's hospital zone.

Even if ordinances were not invalidated by this bill, local governments would most likely have to amend them, said Mike Cerra, director of government affairs for the New Jersey League of Municipalities.

"Philosophically we don't like when a state statute invalidates a local ordinance, but this is not a typical instance," Cerra said.

Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, a sponsor on the bill, said in a statement that any previously enacted ordinance would not take into account the benefits listed in the bill, and that it would ultimately be up to local governments to decide on any bans if the bill were to become law.

"We made significant amendments to the bill as recently as one week ago. The ordinances passed by municipalities could not have contemplated all of the local control, social justice and economic provisions contained in the legislation." Scutari said. "We believe the citizens in every municipality deserve to have their governing bodies make only informed decisions. If, after all of the positive benefits in this legislation are fully considered, a governing body still wants to prohibit cannabis businesses, it is free do so."

Not all towns were quick to proactively shoot down any thoughts of legal marijuana.

Paramus, the retail hot spot of Bergen County, will wait to see what state lawmakers decide before making decisions on marijuana sales and distributions.

Mayor Richard LaBarbiera has said the borough has taken a "wait-and-see approach" to adopting any local ordinances regarding the legalization of marijuana.

"If and when [the passing of the bill] happens, Paramus will need to have some serious conversations," he said.

Monday’s voting sessions are the last before a three-month break for lawmakers to piece together a new state budget, and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said last week that he doesn’t want to work on a marijuana bill at the same time.

Email: zuritaa@northjersey.com

Staff Writers Nicholas Pugliese and Melanie Anzidei contributed to this article.