Federal legislation that would protect state marijuana laws and allow commerce between legal marijuana states and tribes recently gained a new legislative sponsor.
The STATES (Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States) Act 2.0 was filed last month by Representative Dave Joyce (R) with four cosponsors. The measure has since gained two additional cosponsors, including garnering its seventh cosponsor on Thursday, January 11, with Rep. Gregory Steube (R-FL) joining the list.
Other sponsors to the bill are Representatives Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R), Brian Mast (R), Troy Carter (D), Earl Blumenauer (D) and Luis Correa (D-CA).
If passed into law the STATES Act would amend the Controlled Substances so that those acting in compliance with state marijuana laws would no longer be committing a federal crime. This includes both marijuana consumers and those operating marijuana businesses.
The measure would also explicitly allow marijuana commerce between legal marijuana states and tribes, and it 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 proposal would also 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.”
