Kansas state Sen. Rob Olson (R) said during a December 9 meeting of the 20222 Special Committee on Medical Marijuana that he intends to file a medical cannabis legalization proposal next year, the Kansas Reflector reports.
State lawmakers have considered but ultimately rejected multiple such proposals this year, including a House-approved proposal that never advanced in the Senate and a separate Senate proposal by Olson, introduced in March, the report said. The committee has since met multiple times to discuss the state’s medical cannabis legalization prospects for next year.
After the most recent meeting, Sen. Olson said he will draft a new medical cannabis proposal for the start of the 2023 legislative session.
“I think what I’m going to do is — and any member is more than welcome — is to take this information and create the bill. And I’m going to work on a bill with a couple members, and then if anybody wants to sign on in the Senate, they’ll be more than able to sign onto that bill, and introduce it at the beginning of session.” — Sen. Olson, via the Kansas Reflector
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said in the report that school funding legislation and the state budget remain bigger priorities for him than medical cannabis reforms but Sen. Cindy Holscher (D) was nevertheless hopeful.
“The whole issue is last year, we had a very strong bill that passed the House, and Senate President Ty Masterson wouldn’t allow it to move forward,” Holscher said. “So I know there are different parties who have been reaching out to him to remind him of how important an issue this is to a lot of different people.”
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