Legalizing Marijuana on Connecticut Legislature’s Agenda Despite Malloy’s Concerns

State Senate President Martin Looney is setting the agenda to tackle some hot-button issues in 2017 including legalizing recreational use of marijuana, paid family leave and raising the minimum wage.

Looney is currently recovering from a kidney transplant and had a staff attorney file 10 bills before he went under the knife, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

His marijuana legalization bill would have a similar tax system as Colorado. Currently Connecticut has a medical marijuana program and possession of small amounts of the drug is decriminalized, but still subject to a fine.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he opposes a bill that would legalize the drug and that the matter shouldn’t be brought up in the legislative session. Besides Looney’s bill another bill is being proposed in the State House and a spokesperson for incoming House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said the bill will get a full hearing.

A 2015 Quinnipiac University poll found that 63 percent of voting adults in Connecticut supported legalizing small amounts of the drug for personal use.

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Looney is also proposing a number of other laws including raising the minimum wage eventually to $15 an hour and instituting a paid family/medical leave program. Paid family leave surfaced in last year’s legislative session, but it never got a full debate in either legislative body.

Looney is also putting forth a bill that would allow municipalities to levy their own sales tax, according to CT News Junkie.

Another Looney proposal would exempt the first $10,000 of a business’ personal property from property tax.

Looney isn’t the only legislator who has already put forth bill proposals. Newly-elected Republican State Rep. William Petit is proposing a bill that would prevent overtime payments from being used in pension calculations.

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