Tag: New Hampshire

During the second meeting of a New Hampshire commission tasked with preparing legislation to legalize marijuana through a novel system of state-run stores, members on Monday considered an alternative proposal that would instead establish a franchise model for cannabis sales. “The model that we are looking to put into place, that we feel would be feasible, is that the Liquor Commission would be the franchisor and the franchisee would be the retailer,” Joseph Mollica, chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission,… Read more.

A New Hampshire commission tasked with preparing legislation to legalize marijuana sales through a system of state-run stores has officially been established, with members being appointed to the panel and a first meeting scheduled for next week. The governor signed a bill to create the commission earlier this month after bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers reached an agreement to enact the incremental reform in a conference committee. Now the panel has taken shape, with its 17 members holding mixed records on cannabis policy. The commission… Read more.

The Republican governor of New Hampshire has signed a bill that will create a commission tasked with preparing legislation to legalize marijuana through a system of state-run stores—a novel regulatory model that he backed this year after concluding that legalization is “inevitable” in the state despite his broader concerns with the policy. This comes about two months after bicameral and bipartisan lawmakers reached an agreement on the incremental commission legislation in a conference committee. The bill that the conference committee took up initially only required… Read more.

New Hampshire Representative Dan Hynes recently took to Facebook to make a significant announcement - he has officially changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent. He expressed his reasoning behind this decision, citing his belief that the Republican party no longer upholds crucial values such as defending the Constitution and ensuring individual freedom. Representative Hynes elaborated on three specific examples that influenced his choice in his Facebook post. Firstly, he expressed his disappointment that legislators failed to safeguard both… Read more.

A New Hampshire House lawmaker says that he’s defecting from the Republican party to become in an independent—in part because of his frustration over the Senate’s repeated refusal to approve marijuana legalization. Rep. Dan Hynes said on Tuesday that he is leaving the GOP because he feels the party has lost touch with its founding principles, including promoting “individual freedom.” Among his specific contentions is that “Republicans in the senate almost unanimously voted against legalizing marijuana for adults” this session,… Read more.

The Republican governor of New Hampshire announced signing an alternative proposal for marijuana legalization through a state-operated store system. This development hit the news barely a day after the New Hampshire Senate rejected a bill for the same purpose. The outcome remains uncertain as the fate of the proposed legislation is currently undecided. In the previous session, the House had passed a bill to establish a state-regulated market under the supervision of the state Liquor Commission. However, the Senate rejected this… Read more.

The New Hampshire Senate has voted to create a study commission to examine potential models to legalize marijuana as the as the governor predicts that his plan to create a state-run cannabis market will likely be considered by lawmakers “next year.” Meanwhile, senators moved to set aside another House-passed marijuana legalization bill—though representatives are now discussing pursuing compromise legislation next week that would provide for a combination of state-operated and privately licensed cannabis shops while also allowing current medical cannabis… Read more.

The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday voted down the House-approved cannabis legalization bill by a 14-10 margin, the New Hampshire Bulletin reports. The vote was mostly across party lines and came after the chamber’s Judiciary Committee opposed the measure as “inexpedient to legislate.”  Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, the chamber’s longest-serving member, voted against the bill while Republican Sen. Keith Murphy voted in favor.   Lawmakers opposing the measure cited the state’s ongoing opioid crisis, traffic safety, the bill’s public consumption provisions, and potential effect on children as… Read more.

A New Hampshire Senate committee has rejected two House-passed bills to legalize marijuana—as well as a measure to allow medical cannabis patients to grow their own plants—though they will still move to the floor despite the procedural defeat. The House Republican sponsor of the legalization legislation, meanwhile, has signaled that he’s prepared to hold up unrelated Senate measures if the opposite chamber fails to enact the reform. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted against the legalization and regulation measure from House Majority… Read more.

A bill to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire is going back to the House floor after a second committee passed the legislation with amendments on Monday. The proposal, which is being sponsored by Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R) and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm (D), cleared the House Ways & Means Committee in a 16-4 vote. The full chamber already approved the legislation last month, but it needed to be sent back to the finance-focused committee because of its fiscal provisions. It… Read more.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved another bill to legalize marijuana in the state—except this one contains no regulations or limitations on cannabis. About a month after the House passed a comprehensive legalization, taxation and regulation measure that’s being sponsored by bipartisan leaders, members on Thursday took up the simpler legislation to remove marijuana from the state’s listed of banned substances. The chamber first voted, 210-160, to overrule the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which had deemed the… Read more.