A Minnesota legislative conference committee held its second meeting on a pair of House and Senate marijuana legalization bills on Monday, reconciling most of the remaining differences as a deadline for final passage looms.
Bipartisan and bicameral negotiators tackled several key sections of the legislation, including provisions on licensing, expungements and criminal penalties. But tax- and appropriations-related issues must still be resolved by the panel—and agreed to by the full legislature—before the House’s planned adjournment for the year on Thursday.
The reason for the conference committee is that both the House and Senate passed cannabis legalization bills last month that were separately amended over the course of a weeks-long committee process. As such, differences need to be addressed before a final unified bill can move through both chambers again and be sent to the governor’s desk.
Rep. Zack Stephenson (D) and Sen. Lindsey Port (D), sponsors of the bills, are among the conference negotiators who will need to meet at least one more time to deal with remaining articles on taxes and appropriations. They panel held its first meeting on Friday, and members will hold a third conference on Tuesday.
At Monday’s meeting, the conference committee worked articles 1, 4 and 5, as well as remaining sections of article 6, of the bill—with the panel again largely opting to accept House versions of most…
