As we enter 2024, there are several pro-marijuana bills and provisions in consideration in the United States Congress.
In December, 2022 President Biden signed into law the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, making it the first standalone piece of marijuana legislation to ever be signed into law by a US president. Since then, proponents of marijuana law reform have been working on several marijuana measures in hopes of bringing further progress in the near future.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the marijuana bills most likely to see significant movement in 2024.
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The SAFER Banking Act
The SAFER Banking Act (S.2860) is sponsored by 35% of the entire US Senate, including having support from several Republicans and all three independent senators. The proposed law would provide explicit federal protections to banks and other financial institutions (such as credit unions) that provide services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.
The legislation received approval by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support in September. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed soon after the committee’s vote to put the measure to a vote of the full Senate “very soon”, and he reiterated in November that the chamber is “getting close” to a vote.
The SAFER Banking Act has the support of the National Conference of State Legislatures, as well as a bipartisan group of 22 attorneys general. It’s also supported by a majority of US adults.
A House version of the bill filed a few months before S.2860, titled the SAFE Banking Act, has 98 sponsors.
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Veterans Equal Access
In November, by a vote of 82 to 15, the full United States Senate gave approval to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies spending bill. The measure includes a provision put forth by Senator Jeff Merkley (D) that would allow doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs to legally recommend marijuana to their patients, something that’s currently prohibited.
In July, the House of Representatives passed a similar, but slightly different, version of the same provision. The two chambers must now reconcile the two versions and vote again before it can be sent to President Biden for consideration.
Specifically, the Senate version of the provision states that “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used in a manner that would interfere with the ability of a veteran to participate in a medicinal marijuana program approved by a State”, or “deny any services from the Department to a veteran who is participating in such a program”, or “limit or interfere with the ability of a health care provider of the Department to make appropriate recommendations, fill out forms, or take steps to comply with such a program.”
A standalone federal bill called the Veterans Equal Access Act has 29 sponsors in the House.
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The MORE Act
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, filed by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D) in September, has 80 sponsors, the most of any marijuana bill other than the SAFE Banking Act.
The MORE Act would nationally decriminalize marijuana by removing it entirely as a federally controlled substance. The measure would place a 5% federal excise tax on state-legal marijuana sales for the first two years, with it increasing to 8% by the fifth year.
The Act also includes several provisions to protect marijuana consumers, including preventing them from being denied public benefits and allowing marijuana convictions to be expunged (removed) from people’s records
Representative Nadler has described the MORE Act as “one of the most comprehensive marijuana reform bills ever introduced in the U.S. Congress”, which “aims to correct the historical injustices of failed drug policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income communities by requiring resentencing and expungement of prior convictions.”
Despite such strong support, it seems unlikely the measure will receive serious consideration in the Republican-led House of Representatives. However, it may be the primary vehicle Democrats use to achieve marijuana reform if they take back the House in this November’s election.
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The STATES Act
The STATES Act was filed State Representative Dave Joyce (R) last month with a bipartisan group of cosponsors. The measure would amend the Federal Controlled Substances Act so that those acting in compliance with state drug laws laws would no longer be committing a federal crime. This includes both marijuana consumers and those operating state-legal marijuana businesses.
The measure would also explicitly allow marijuana commerce between legal marijuana states and tribes, and it would amend an IRS regulation (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. In addition, the STATES Act would direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on the impacts of marijuana legalization on traffic safety.
In October Representative Nancy Mace (R) filed a somewhat similar measure, the States Reform Act, which would “Federally decriminalizes cannabis and fully defers to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.”
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