5 States That Might Legalize Marijuana in 2021 Monday, 01 February 2021
In 2020, the number of states that ended pot prohibition reached 15 (and the District of Columbia), as voters in four states Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota legalized marijuana through the initiative process. Since 2021 is not an election year, any states that attempt to legalize marijuana this year will have to go through the much more cumbersome legislative process, but at least a handful of them are poised to do so.
It is no coincidence that the early progress toward state-level legalization has been led by states that allow for voter initiatives. State legislatures badly trail public opinion on the issue, and beyond that, the legislative process itself is messy, beset with horse-trading, and progress of a bill is beholden to key legislative gatekeepers the committee chairs and majority leaders.
PROVIDENCE - The legal battle over the control of $46 million in legislative hiring, contracting and spending ended Monday, with a Superior Court judge effectively saying: the courts can t tell legislators how to run their business.
In his long-awaited ruling, retired Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein granted the dismissal sought by the legislature s Democratic leaders, leaving House GOP Leader Blake Filippi three choices: to seek relief.from the Legislature; or the people through constitutional amendment or from both.
Filippi s lawsuit centered around the Joint Committee on Legislative Services, which controls Assembly hiring and spending but has not met in more than a decade.
Ocean State gun owners have grown accustomed to battling against a wave of gun control each session, and it appears the COVID pandemic is not going to alter that trend in 2021.
PROVIDENCE The leaders of the House and Senate are pushing to make Gov. Gina Raimondo’s Rhode Island Promise program permanent, at a time when the Community College of Rhode Island has asked for a tuition increase and laid off 45 full-time staff.
The program offers two years of free tuition for eligible Rhode Islanders at CCRI and is set to expire with the class entering in September.
Bills sponsored by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi would remove the sunset provision.
Promise is one of Raimondo’s signature pieces of legislation, one that she has touted as an economic engine and a means of raising college graduation rates, especially among students from low-income families and first-generation college-goers.
Peter Neronha PHOTO: GoLocal
The consulting group hired by RI Attorney General Peter Neronha is giving the green light to the hospital conversion for Prospect Medical Holdings to transfer its ownership on CharterCare to another corporate entity.
The nearly 900-page report by Neronha’s consultant Affiliated Monitors, Inc (AMI) the report concludes, among other things, that Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc. has met its capital commitment requirements that were required under the preceding conversion that took place in 2014. The question was did CharterCare and its owner Prospect make the investments it promised over the past seven years.
“Following an independent, exacting, and comprehensive review, the Affiliated Monitors’ independent report has determined that Prospect Medical has met all the regulatory conditions set forth by the Rhode Island attorney general and Department of Health when Prospect’s acquisition of CharterCARE Health Partners was approved in June 2014.