Washington, D.C. lawmakers have accredited a felony justice reform invoice that accommodates a newly added modification to routinely expunge marijuana possession information for offenses that came about earlier than the District enacted a restricted hashish legalization legislation in 2014.
The D.C. Council unanimously handed the Second Likelihood Modification Act, together with the marijuana-focused provision, in a 13-0 vote on Tuesday, sending it to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
Previous to passage, lawmakers adopted an modification from Councilmember Christina Henderson (D) that clarified the expungements language, specifying that information associated to possession of “any amount of marijuana” earlier than the legalization legislation took impact in February 2015 would have to be routinely expunged by the courts.
The explanation for the modification is that D.C. legalized possession of as much as two ounces of hashish, however felony information don’t all the time replicate the amount, “so the court docket and litigants can not inform from the file itself whether or not the file qualifies as decriminalized conduct,” the rationale part of the amendment says.
“Together with all easy possession, fairly than simply possession of two ounces or much less, clarifies the intent and permits the court docket and litigants to raised implement the legislation,” it continues
I’m introducing an modification to Second Likelihood that will require the automated expungement of any felony information of straightforward possession of marijuana previous to the enactment date of Initiative 71, which decriminalized the possession of two ounces or much less of marijuana.
— CM Christina Henderson (@CMCHenderson) December 20, 2022
Right here’s the complete textual content of the revised expungements part:
“The Courtroom shall order automated expungement of all felony information and court docket proceedings associated solely to citations, arrests, expenses, or convictions for the fee of a felony offense that has subsequently been decriminalized, legalized, or held to be unconstitutional by the Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia or the Supreme Courtroom of america, or information associated solely to easy possession for any amount of marijuana in violation of D.C. Code § 48-904.01(d)(1) earlier than February 15, 2015…”
Expungements would have to be processed by January 1, 2025, or “inside 90 days after termination of the case by the prosecutor or remaining disposition, whichever is later.”
Beforehand, the bill broadly stated that the court docket “shall order automated expungement of all felony information and court docket proceedings associated solely to citations, arrests, expenses, or convictions for the fee of a felony offense that has subsequently been decriminalized, legalized, or held to be unconstitutional.”
The vote on the felony justice laws got here on the identical day the the District Council unanimously accredited a separate invoice to make sweeping adjustments to the medical marijuana program within the nation’s capital. That features eliminating hashish enterprise licensing caps, offering tax reduction to operators, additional selling social fairness and creating new regulated enterprise classes comparable to on-site consumption services and hashish cooking courses.
It could additionally present a pathway for present “gifting” operators that promote non-cannabis gadgets in alternate for “free” marijuana merchandise to enter the licensed market, whereas empowering officers to crack down on those that proceed to function illegally. And it might codify a coverage permitting adults to self-certify as medical hashish sufferers.
Whereas many advocates have welcomed the legislative efforts to develop hashish entry and facilitate expungements within the District, they’ve additionally continued to push for an finish to the federal blockade that’s prevented D.C. from establishing a regulated marijuana market.
However that effort appears to have failed for the 2023 Fiscal Yr, with congressional lawmakers unveiling a remaining spending deal early Tuesday morning that retains the rider, despite the fact that each the Home and Senate had omitted it of their respective variations earlier this yr.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) instructed Marijuana Second on Tuesday that she’s “actually dissatisfied” that Democratic Home and Senate majorities didn’t take away the rider.
After President Joe Biden issued a proclamation in October pardoning Individuals who’ve dedicated federal marijuana possession offenses, in addition to individuals who’ve violated the legislation in D.C., Norton referred to as on the president to go additional by federally legalizing hashish and letting the District set up a industrial hashish market and grant clemency by itself.
The congresswoman stated the continued native ban, which was maintained in Biden’s first two finances proposals, represents a “stunning violation of D.C. residence rule by a Democratic administration.”
A coalition of native, state and nationwide advocacy organizations just lately requested the U.S. legal professional common to formally undertake a coverage of non-enforcement to permit the District to legalize marijuana gross sales even in mild of the continued congressional ban.
A ballot launched in September discovered that D.C. voters strongly help marijuana legalization and oppose a crackdown on the hashish “gifting” market that’s emerged within the absence of regulated gross sales.
Bowser, Norton and different elected officers within the metropolis have routinely criticized Congress for singling out the District and depriving it of the power to do what a rising variety of states have executed with out federal interference.
Norton instructed Marijuana Second in a cellphone interview in July that she was “pretty optimistic” that the rider wouldn’t be included within the remaining spending bundle. She added that the D.C. self-certification coverage is an “efficient workaround” till then.
In the meantime, the mayor signed a invoice in July that bans most workplaces from firing or in any other case punishing staff for marijuana use.
The reform is designed to construct upon on a earlier measure lawmakers accredited to guard native authorities staff in opposition to office discrimination as a result of their use of medical hashish.