The Senate judiciary committee held a hearing this week regarding the potential legalization of recreational marijuana. Ultimately, the bill did not have the votes to pass but it was a very curious hearing (and I've seen everything over the years). The fact that the GOP led Senate was opposed to this is not surprising but the manner in which the bill was defeated was.
Typically a caucus may just choose not to hear certain bills ... which has been the strategy for many of the Gun control bills. In this case however, they heard the bill and then, after defeating multiple other procedural choices, voted it down on a party line vote. This is likely a move to draw a clear distinction to Governor Walz who supports this measure.
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