A House committee gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a comprehensive marijuana reform bill that would decriminalize the drug while erasing pot convictions stretching back decades.
The vote by the House Judiciary Committee came the same day that a new poll showed a slim majority of Arizonans support legalization of marijuana for recreational use in the state, the subject of initiative pushes for the 2020 election.
Those initiatives may yet be needed: Republican lawmakers on the House committee Wednesday predicted that while the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act will pass the House, it has almost no chance in the Senate in its current form.
“That’s the thing about the Senate. They will do nothing,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.
