Charlie Hales asks for $440,000 for a permitting program; Rep. Lew Frederick aims to alter sentences for pot offenders.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Portland lawmakers propose new programs, bills connected to the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Mayor Charlie Hales has requested $440,000 for a permitting program, OregonLive.com reports:
The mayor’s marijuana program represents a small slice of some $58 million in proposals submitted by city bureaus as they compete for roughly $14 million in one-time general fund dollars expected to be available come July. More than half of the $58 million in one-time requests are from the Bureau of Transportation,The Oregonian/OregonLive previously reported.
“With recent legalization of recreational marijuana sales in Oregon, the City must develop local regulations to regulate medical and recreational sales establishments,” Hales wrote. Willamette Week first reported Hales’ pot permitting proposal on Thursday.
The money would fund two regulatory positions and a permitting program in the city.
Meanwhile, in the Oregon legislature, Portland Democratic Rep. Lew Frederick proposed a bill that would ease the sentences for people convicted of marijuana-related crimes and to expunge the record of nonviolent pot offenders.
The Willamette Week reports that Frederick’s bill would in some cases result in immediate release:
Frederick introduced House Bill 3372 last night.
“A lot of people are going to be making a lot of money for the same activities that other people are still incarcerated for, or living with a lifetime of consequences,” says Frederick’s chief of staff, Susan Hagmeir. “I don’t think we’re the only ones putting forth this concept.”
