On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee passed House Resolution 3884- the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 (“MORE Act”). Although historic, being that this is the first time Congress has ever voted to end marijuana prohibition, H.R. 3884 still has a ways to go.
Today, all kinds of misleading headlines have flooded social media. I’ve seen people planning smoke sessions in celebrations of Congress “legalizing”, and so much more. That isn’t what has happened the slightest bit. We still have a ways to go and more work to do.
A bill has a handful of stages to go through before it becomes law. Let’s take a House Resolution (the same process happens for Senate Resolutions as well). First, it is referred to a committee where it is discussed and voted on within the committee. Then, if passed out of committee, as what was done with the MORE Act yesterday, it moves on the full House Chamber. In the House Chamber, the bill will be voted on by all members of the House (Contact your representative here and ask them to end prohibition and support the MORE Act).
Once it is taken up in the House and voted on, if passed, it heads to the Senate side of Congress. Once on the other side of Congress, the bill is again heard in a committee. From there, the committee must pass it on to the Senate Floor for a vote. If and when the Senate passes the bill, it will then go on to the President’s desk for either a veto or to be signed into law.
Now, if a bill has a companion bill filed in the other chamber of Congress, such as HR 3884 has Senate Bill 2227, then there is a chance that these 2 bill could meet in the middle. If that happens, differences are ironed out and it is voted on by a committee to send a final product to the President. Unfortunately, HR 3884’s companion bill S.2227, isn’t gaining any traction on the Senate side. We must continue to fight.
This is a long and grueling process. We must continue to keep the pressure on and keep pushing for sensible legislation.. The 116th Congress has until next December to get this bill though (or any bill for that matter), although they are not in session the whole time between now and then.
Schoolhouse Rock puts the process into great perspective here.
Remember, contact your representatives! Your Congressperson and Federal Senators. The MORE Act will do great things when it comes to ending marijuana prohibition.
*Credit for feature image goes to Jeff Stahler at gocomics.com