Judiciary Committee advances broad package; debates psilocybin decriminalization, gender‑affirming care protections and housing rules

The Judiciary Committee convened April 4 and advanced a slate of bills to the floor while placing many items on the committee’s consent calendar. Members spent the longest debate on a bill to reduce penalties for small amounts of psilocybin, and also debated expanded statutory protections for providers of reproductive and gender‑affirming health care, and proposed limits and remedies related to housing pricing algorithms and local land‑use appeals.

The committee moved more than a dozen measures to the consent calendar and reported several bills out of committee (JFS or JF as recorded). Committee leaders said the goal was to clear routine or noncontroversial items while allowing fuller debate on the bills that raised policy or public‑safety questions.

Why it matters: the package includes changes that could affect criminal penalties, patient privacy and provider liability, housing enforcement tools, and court procedures. Several bills discussed — notably decriminalizing small amounts of psilocybin and expanding cross‑jurisdictional shields for certain medical services — drew pronounced statements for and against, indicating likely further debate on the House and Senate floors.

What the committee did and debated

• Psilocybin (House Bill 7065): The committee considered a bill to reduce the penalty for possession of less than half an ounce of psilocybin from a misdemeanor to an infraction and to set higher penalties for repeat offenses. Representative Howard moved an amendment to appropriate $1,000,000 for recruitment and training of drug recognition experts (DREs) to help address law‑enforcement concerns about impaired driving; the chair opposed using a general‑fund appropriation in this committee and the amendment failed on a roll call. Opponents said decriminalization risks more impaired driving and public‑safety burdens; proponents said the bill does not legalize psilocybin or driving under the influence. The committee reported the bill (JFS) to the…