Legislative Committee Set To Vote On Marijuana Bill

AUGUSTA, Maine - A legislative committee plans to consider a bill to double the recreational marijuana sales tax to 20 percent and ban marijuana social clubs until 2019.
 
The Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation is set to vote Thursday on whether to recommend the omnibus bill that tweaks the voter-approved recreational marijuana law.
 
Lawmakers hope the Legislature will vote on the marijuana bill at a special session that could take place in October.
 
Lawmakers have pushed back legalization of recreational marijuana sales until February at the earliest.
 
The bill as drafted would require holders of recreational marijuana licenses to have two years of Maine residency. That requirement would expire in 2020.
 
Just over half of Maine voters voted in November to legalize recreational marijuana, with 49.74 percent opposed.