A new spending bill released by the House Appropriations Committee would block the Department of Justice from moving forward with marijuana rescheduling and would impose stricter penalties on marijuana sales near schools and parks.

The GOP-led committee unveiled the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) spending bill on Monday. The legislation includes a provision that would prohibit the DOJ from using federal funds to reschedule or deschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. The move comes as  DEA’s rescheduling plan—which would reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III—remains on hold.

The bill also includes a separate provision that maintains long-standing protections for state medical marijuana programs, which bar the DOJ from interfering with operations that comply with state law. However, the updated text adds a new clause that authorizes enhanced penalties for marijuana sales that occur near schools or parks.

The rescheduling-related provision reads:

None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana…. or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act.

Although similar language was approved in committee last year, it did not make it into the final appropriations package.