January 07, 2020 John,
We’re writing today to let you know that the House Small Business Committee is waiving its jurisdiction on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act.
Why is this significant? When a piece of legislation is introduced, it gets assigned to one or multiple congressional committees, depending on what types of policy it impacts. Then, the members of each of these committees must vote in favor of it before it moves to the floor for a full chamber vote. By waiving their jurisdiction, the Small Business Committee is de-facto advancing the bill -- thus increasing the prospects that the MORE Act will receive a full House vote in the near future.
The House Small Business Committee is the first congressional committee to waive jurisdiction on the MORE Act since it was passed by the Judiciary Committee last November.
Our records indicate that you have yet to contact your member of Congress in support of this historic piece of legislation. Will you join the tens-of-thousands of others who have made their voices heard and contact your lawmakers now?
The MORE Act represents the first time ever that a bill to end federal criminalization has passed out of the Judiciary Committee, aka “the originating committee” but not everything is as simple as the School House Rock song would lead us to believe.
Here’s the plan:
Step one: Spread the news about the MORE Act far and wide to increase public support for moving the bill forward
Step two: Generate targeted campaigns to the remaining jurisdictional committees to similarly waive their jurisdiction.
Step three: Pressure House leadership to schedule the MORE Act for a floor vote.
Step four: Win a floor vote in the House.
Step five: Turn our sights on the Senate to repeat the process.
Send a message to your lawmakers right now!
We still have a ways to go. Members of the House Agriculture; Education and Labor; Energy and Commerce; Natural Resources; Oversight and Reform; and The Ways and Means committees still need to take action. We know that we could win the votes in each of these committees should they be scheduled for a roll call, but that would take a long time, hence the call for them to waive.
With the Small Business Committee boldly taking this action first, now is the time to push even harder. Put it this way: Two committees down, six to go.
Spread the news on Facebook
Spread the news on Twitter
Thanks for all that you do,
Justin
Justin Strekal
NORML Political Director
P.S. Our movement is funded by thousands of people throughout the country as we work to advance marijuana reform in all 50 states and the federal level, not the marijuana industry or other special interests. Can you kick in $5, $10 or $20 a month to help us keep going?
