SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 11, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The less controversial of the two medical marijuana bills introduced in the 2016 Utah Legislature also was not approved by this year’s Utah Legislature.
Senate Bill 89, which provided for highly regulated use of medical marijuana extract that would not get the user high failed on the House floor, at least in part, because the budget could not accommodate the $3 million fiscal note attached to it. Representatives appeared to have mixed views on SB89, so it’s not clear whether it would have passed without the budget issues.
Senate Bill 73, which would have legalized the highly regulated use of medical marijuana extract that does provide a high, was voted down March 7 without making it out of committee. Supporters of the bill have pledged to make SB89 a ballot initiative in 2018.
Another controversial bill, SB189, aimed at repealing the death penalty in Utah, was not considered before the midnight deadline for the 2016 Legislature.
Randy Gardner, the brother of executed convict Ronnie Lee Gardner, disrupted the House session Thursday night by displaying a banner with a graphic picture from his brother’s autopsy. Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in 2010, 25 years after his convictions for murdering two people.
