Without co-sponsor, Ammiano’s pot bill lagging

Without co-sponsor, Ammiano’s pot bill lagging

While Ammiano’s bill, introduced in February, has sparked cable and blog chatter and supportive editorials from around the world, it hasn’t received a single co-sponsor. He pulled it from a committee hearing scheduled for late March – he said it was scheduled without his knowledge – and plans to hold a hearing in late fall or early winter. The measure is now a two-year bill, giving the freshman legislator through next year to build support.

When you are breaking ground on a 40 year taboo, don’t expect feckless lawmakers to come running. Tom may be a comedian, but he’s not joking about this..

“Oh, don’t underestimate me, pal,” Ammiano said. He isn’t concerned about not having co-sponsors so early in the process, especially for a highly detailed bill that could be reviewed by three different Assembly committees. Privately, he has been having conversations with his more conservative colleagues, many of whom he said are telling him, ” ‘Great idea – I don’t think I can vote for it yet.’ I think they need the assurance of their constituents that they won’t be thrown out of office, which I think would be highly unlikely. They won’t be thrown out of office for this.”

Lawmakers often work under the “Mikey” pretext, “Let’s wait and see if Mikey likes it!” Lawmakers like Tom Ammiano are a rare breed indeed. He’s more interested in good governance than timid toe wetting.

Ammiano replied, “If we’re hemorrhaging money and doing this wink-wink, nod-nod all these years, it’s about time we start harvesting this. And admit to the fact that it’s going to be around and if we regulate and tax it, and decriminalize it, we could have not only an economic benefit but a policy benefit.”

Remember stashers, we are in this for the long run. Full legalization is a heavy lift for our side, and the strength of our movement will be needed to share the load.

“Tom has always been a courageous spokesperson for cutting-edge issues in San Francisco,” Gieringer said. As for whether that ability translates to a statewide stage, Dale Gieringer, coordinator of California NORML said, “He may be ideologically and culturally polarizing, but personally, he’s not.”

Gieringer cautions that moving this bill forward will take time, noting that medical marijuana took several years to take hold statewide in California. Now, 13 states have legalized medical marijuana. “This,” he said, “goes deeper than Tom Ammiano.”