House Republicans warn D.C. mayor not to legalize pot
By Aaron C Davis
Two powerful House Republicans late Tuesday warned D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser not to move forward with legalizing marijuana in the nation’s capital and they warned of stiff federal retribution if the city’s chief executive did not yield.
The letter came on the same day that Bowser declared that a voter-approved measure to legalize pot would become law in the city at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday and the letter set the stage for a dramatic final 24 hours before that deadline.
“If you decide to move forward tomorrow with the legalization of marijuana in the District, you will be doing so in knowing and willful violation of the law,” read the letter signed by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chair of the appropriations subcommittee that handles the D.C. budget.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Chaffetz went further. He said that if Bowser and city officials are “under any illusion that this would be legal, they are wrong. And there are very severe consequences for violating this provision. You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here.”
A spokesman for Bowser did not immediately return an e-mail and phone call seeking comment late Tuesday. But earlier in the day, Bowser vowed to defend the will of seven in 10 voters who cast ballots in favor of following Colorado, Washington state in legalizing pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also passed measures to do so on the same day as those in D.C.
Unlike those states, however, D.C.’s own tax money remains subject to federal oversight and its often liberal social policies routinely become pawns in federal budget battles.
At issue for the city’s marijuana law is a restriction that House Republicans tucked in a $1 trillion spending package in December. That provision precluded D.C. from enacting any new laws to loosen penalties for marijuana. Chaffetz and other Republicans critical of marijuana legalization applauded the restriction at the time, saying it had effectively suspended the voter-backed measure.
But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city’s nonvoting member of the House, and soon Bowser, the newly-elected mayor, said they viewed the restriction as not applying to the marijuana measure, known as Initiative 71, because it had already been passed by voters a month earlier.
Initiative 71 legalized possession of up to 2 ounces for D.C. residents and visitors over the age of 21. It also allowed for home cultivation of six plants, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and sharing of the drug. The congressional interference did halt the city from enacting any future rules to tax and sale marijuana as Colorado and Washington state have done.
The crux of the warning issued Tuesday by Chaffetz and Meadows, however, gets to even more obscure parts of the District’s tortured relationship with Congress.
All new local D.C. laws must pass a 30-day congressional review period. In the case of Initiative 71, that meant printing the measure and carrying it to Congress in January. Bowser, her police chief and other city officials have also worked behind the scenes in recent weeks to settle on rules for how marijuana legalization would take effect without legal sales.
Chaffetz and Meadows questioned in their letter if the city expenditures for those tasks amounted to violations of a powerful but rarely-invoked federal law known as the Anti Deficiency Act. That law prohibits government workers from misappropriating tax dollars in any way other than what Congress has specified. Violations of the law can be punishable by jail time.
“Even the mere act of transmitting the Initiative by the District is likely in violation of the Anti-deficiency Act,” the letter read. “Further, any other steps taken by the District on Initiative 71, such as developing rules for law enforcement or the general public regarding Initiative 71, are violations of the current Continuing Resolution and the Anti-deficiency Act.”
The letter warned that Chaffetz’s committee had begun an investigation into Bowser’s assertion that marijuana legalization would take effect on Thursday. The letter asked Bowser’s administration to produce all documents related to enactment of the marijuana measure, expenses incurred to do so and even lists of all D.C. employes “who participated in any way in any action related to enactment of Initiative 71.”
In a tweet posted early Wednesday morning, Adam Eidinger, head of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign who organized the petition drive to get Initiative 71 on the ballot said he hoped the city would dare move forward:
“I hope DC ignores this request as it’s a plainly offensive intimidation of our leaders.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politi...story.html
By Aaron C Davis
Two powerful House Republicans late Tuesday warned D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser not to move forward with legalizing marijuana in the nation’s capital and they warned of stiff federal retribution if the city’s chief executive did not yield.
The letter came on the same day that Bowser declared that a voter-approved measure to legalize pot would become law in the city at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday and the letter set the stage for a dramatic final 24 hours before that deadline.
“If you decide to move forward tomorrow with the legalization of marijuana in the District, you will be doing so in knowing and willful violation of the law,” read the letter signed by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chair of the appropriations subcommittee that handles the D.C. budget.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Chaffetz went further. He said that if Bowser and city officials are “under any illusion that this would be legal, they are wrong. And there are very severe consequences for violating this provision. You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here.”
A spokesman for Bowser did not immediately return an e-mail and phone call seeking comment late Tuesday. But earlier in the day, Bowser vowed to defend the will of seven in 10 voters who cast ballots in favor of following Colorado, Washington state in legalizing pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also passed measures to do so on the same day as those in D.C.
Unlike those states, however, D.C.’s own tax money remains subject to federal oversight and its often liberal social policies routinely become pawns in federal budget battles.
At issue for the city’s marijuana law is a restriction that House Republicans tucked in a $1 trillion spending package in December. That provision precluded D.C. from enacting any new laws to loosen penalties for marijuana. Chaffetz and other Republicans critical of marijuana legalization applauded the restriction at the time, saying it had effectively suspended the voter-backed measure.
But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city’s nonvoting member of the House, and soon Bowser, the newly-elected mayor, said they viewed the restriction as not applying to the marijuana measure, known as Initiative 71, because it had already been passed by voters a month earlier.
Initiative 71 legalized possession of up to 2 ounces for D.C. residents and visitors over the age of 21. It also allowed for home cultivation of six plants, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and sharing of the drug. The congressional interference did halt the city from enacting any future rules to tax and sale marijuana as Colorado and Washington state have done.
The crux of the warning issued Tuesday by Chaffetz and Meadows, however, gets to even more obscure parts of the District’s tortured relationship with Congress.
All new local D.C. laws must pass a 30-day congressional review period. In the case of Initiative 71, that meant printing the measure and carrying it to Congress in January. Bowser, her police chief and other city officials have also worked behind the scenes in recent weeks to settle on rules for how marijuana legalization would take effect without legal sales.
Chaffetz and Meadows questioned in their letter if the city expenditures for those tasks amounted to violations of a powerful but rarely-invoked federal law known as the Anti Deficiency Act. That law prohibits government workers from misappropriating tax dollars in any way other than what Congress has specified. Violations of the law can be punishable by jail time.
“Even the mere act of transmitting the Initiative by the District is likely in violation of the Anti-deficiency Act,” the letter read. “Further, any other steps taken by the District on Initiative 71, such as developing rules for law enforcement or the general public regarding Initiative 71, are violations of the current Continuing Resolution and the Anti-deficiency Act.”
The letter warned that Chaffetz’s committee had begun an investigation into Bowser’s assertion that marijuana legalization would take effect on Thursday. The letter asked Bowser’s administration to produce all documents related to enactment of the marijuana measure, expenses incurred to do so and even lists of all D.C. employes “who participated in any way in any action related to enactment of Initiative 71.”
In a tweet posted early Wednesday morning, Adam Eidinger, head of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign who organized the petition drive to get Initiative 71 on the ballot said he hoped the city would dare move forward:
“I hope DC ignores this request as it’s a plainly offensive intimidation of our leaders.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politi...story.html
