(The Center Square) – Two Tennessee bills addressing hemp and marijuana are going before legislative committees on Wednesday with different objectives.
The “Pot for Potholes” bill sponsored by Nashville Democrats Rep. Aftyn Behn and Sen. Heidi Campbell would legalize recreational marijuana and place a 15% tax on sales. The Department of Transportation would receive 75% of the tax revenue and local governments would receive 20%, according to the bill.
“Other states are already benefiting from cannabis tax revenue, while Tennessee is leaving money on the table and ignoring our growing infrastructure tab,” Campbell said. “This legislation invests in safer roads, creates jobs, and delivers new revenue for counties across Tennessee. It’s time to get this done.”
The bill gets its first hearing in a House Criminal Justice subcommittee on Wednesday.
Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, and Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, have their own version of recreational marijuana on the subcommittee’s calendar. Their bill would allow 15% of the revenues for administrative purposes, with 85% going to the general fund.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 25 states and 39 states allow medical use, Miller said previously.
“Our state has spent millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to enforce outdated cannabis laws,” Miller said. “While recent estimations show that we are potentially leaving more than $155 millions dollars annually on the table by ignoring what poll after poll shows Tennesseans overwhelmingly support.”
Bills supporting the legalization of recreational marijuana face challenges in red states. Only two of Tennessee’s neighbors, Missouri and Virginia, allow it.
Republicans introduced a bill that would place more restrictions on the sale of hemp products. It will be heard in the House Finance, Ways, and Means, Committee on Wednesday.
House Bill 1376/Senate Bill 1413 would ban the sale of products at grocery and convenience stores and turn control of the hemp industry over to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. It would also reverse a law passed in 2023 that allowed a 0.3% legal limit of THCa concentration by prohibiting the manufacturing, production and sales of hemp or hemp plant parts that exceed 0.10% of THCa concentration.
The Republican-led bill would decimate the hemp industry, a Senate committee was told in February.
At least one Republican senator said that the issue of legalizing marijuana will eventually need to be addressed.
“We are absolutely just kicking the can down the road,” Sen. Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, said of a possible vote on recreational marijuana legalization. “It’s coming, whether it’s this year, next year, five years from now.”
