Medical marijuana expansion enjoys popular support among lawmakers. However, most Republicans and some Democrats have opposed previous efforts for legalization. | AP Photo Lawmakers reach consensus on key elements of cannabis bill

The architects of a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey have reached agreement on several major components of the legislation, including regulatory mechanisms for the state’s nascent cannabis industry and automatic eligibility for criminal expungement for those previously convicted of possession.

Significant details still need to be settled, but the current framework agreed to includes the formation of a five-member regulatory commission that would oversee an enforcement division, said state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), who has led the legalization efforts in the upper house. The governor would nominate three of the board’s members, while the Senate and Assembly would be responsible for the other two, he said.


While a strong majority of New Jersey voters supports legalization, ending the prohibition will require clearing legislative hurdles related to taxation, permitting and social justice concerns. Furthermore, Senate President Steve Sweeney has promised to tie recreational use legislation to a separate bill that would the expand the state’s medical marijuana program, which remains constrained by certain legislative statutes that cap the amount and form physicians can prescribe.

Medical marijuana expansion enjoys popular support among lawmakers. However, most Republicans and some Democrats have opposed previous efforts for legalization.

Lawmakers working on the legislation include Scutari, Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, state Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblymen Joe Danielsen (D-Somerset) and Jamel Holley (D-Union). The group met on Thursday to finalize the details around this fill and a second that would expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program.

During a recent interview with POLITICO, Sweeney said he’s confident the Legislature will approve bills to accomplish both goals by the end of September, which is well within Gov. Phil Murphy’s timeline for having marijuana legislation finalized by the end of the year. The path forward on recreational use got much easier earlier this month when Coughlin for the first time said he supports legalization.

“Nothing is set in stone. There’s no bill yet and anybody who assumes there are components of this bill that will automatically be in this legislation is being very premature in their thinking,” a source close to Coughlin told POLITICO on Friday.

Scutari said the working group has reached a consensus on eliminating hard caps on the number of dispensaries, cultivation and processing facilities, leaving permitting in the hands of the oversight commission. Local governments would be able to impose an excise tax of up to 2 percent on marijuana businesses.

More than 30 municipalities in New Jersey have already passed ordinances banning the sale of marijuana within their borders.

“Without having seen what the bill is going to offer to them, they’re making a tremendous mistake,” Scutari said.

Lawmakers have yet to decide how marijuana should be taxed, Scutari said. Sweeney previously told POLITICO he thought the 25 percent rate proposed by the Murphy administration was too high and would allow the black market to continue to flourish.

“We don’t have a hard number just yet, but we’re getting there. … That’s something we’re going to have to talk to the front office about,” Scutari said, referring to the administration.

The Murphy administration, along with Sweeney and Coughlin, frequently frames recreational use as a way to fix injustices from the war on drugs, in which minorities are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. The legalization bill is expected to include language that would qualify those who have been convicted of marijuana possession to have their records expunged.

The process of erasing charges from someone’s criminal record remains complicated. Records are often housed with multiple agencies and departments, making them difficult to locate. The costs associated with expungement cases can also exceed $1,000, POLITICO reported in June.

While the legalization bill is certain to include language that would help individuals clear their records, lawmakers may write a separate bill that would help manage more complicated cases, Holley said.

"We’re just trying to hammer out the best possible way to make sure it’s not an extra layer of bureaucracy," he said.