Republicans in Wisconsin’s legislature on Thursday cut key provisions from a state budget proposal by Gov. Tony Evers (D), including plans to legalize and regulate marijuana.
The changes came in a Joint Finance Committee hearing, where members removed a long list of items included in the governor’s budget. In addition to cannabis legalization, other deleted items include tax cuts for the middle class, tax increases for millionaires and state support for children, farmers and veterans.
Evers said on social media ahead of the vote that “today, Republican lawmakers are gutting my budget that does what’s best for our kids and the folks, families, and communities that raise them.”
The committee’s 21 pages of cuts remove multiple marijuana provisions from Evers’s budget, such as regulation, taxation, licensing and civil and criminal legal adjustments.
The actions are a repeat of two years ago, when GOP members of the same committee removed proposals to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use from the governor’s biennial executive budget at that time.
A press release from the governor’s office about Thursday’s committee changes says the legalization proposal would have regulated marijuana “much like the state already does with alcohol, which would help Wisconsin compete with other states for talented workers and have more resources to invest in critical state priorities.”
The reform is “a proposal that over 60 percent of Wisconsinites support,” the release notes, pointing to a poll from February.
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