The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act has received a new subcommittee assignment.
Earlier this month a bipartisan group of lawmakers refiled the STATES Act, a bill that would explicitly allow states to legalize marijuana without fear of federal repercussions, while also allowing interstate commerce between legal marijuana states. The measure would amend the Controlled Substances so that those acting in compliance with state marijuana laws would no longer be committing a federal crime.
In addition, the measure would amend an IRS law (section 280E) that prohibits businesses from taking tax deductions if they run a federally illegal business, even if the business is properly following their state’s laws.
The day the bill was filed it was assigned to three House committees; Energy and Commerce, Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure. Now, the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has sent the bill to the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. The measure must be passed through the subcommittee before it can be considered by the full committee, and it must be passed through multiple committees before it can be considered by the full House of Representatives.
In October Representative Nancy Mace (R) filed a similar measure, the States Reform Act, which would “Federally decriminalizes cannabis and fully defers to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.”
Separate federal legislation that would decriminalize marijuana nationwide along with several other changes recently gained its 80th sponsor in the House of Representatives.
