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Committee votes down marijuana legalization bill after brief debate
Summary
House Bill 8-36, a proposal to legalize recreational cannabis, failed in committee after a roll-call vote; sponsor said the measure would generate tax revenue and regulate an existing market but members opposed advancing it.
Representative Miller presented House Bill 8-36, describing the bill as an effort to legalize cannabis in Tennessee and to tax and regulate a market that the sponsor said currently is unregulated. In remarks the sponsor argued the state could be losing roughly $150 million a year in untaxed cannabis sales and pointed to states with legal marijuana as precedent.
Leader Lambert objected to rolling the bill and called for a vote. A motion to call the previous question was made and carried; the committee then voted on sending HB 8-36 to full judiciary. The clerk reported 2 ayes and 7 nays; the noes prevailed and the bill failed in committee.
Committee members noted the bill's policy and fiscal implications but the recorded vote ended the measure's progress at the committee level.
