Marijuana debate ramping up for next legislative session
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Legislative leaders in the Indiana Statehouse said during Organization Day earlier this month that you could see some movement on decriminalizing some sort of marijuana use in Indiana.
House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, left things vague on the subject, but rest assured one person whose position has not changed on the subject is Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.
“I haven’t changed my position,” Holcomb said. “I am very supportive of more research. Medical research in terms of the advantages of medicinal marijuana, but it’s still illegal (on the federal level).”
Holcomb added that he doesn’t care if the federal government “looks the other way” when it comes to other states that are decriminalizing the use of pot, whether it be medicinally or recreationally. He added that he didn’t get into the job to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
The other big topic of discussion in this session, as it is with every budget session, is your tax money. With many Hoosier homeowners feeling the ire of their property value reassessments going way up, many want to know what will be done to help alleviate the pain on tax day.
Holcomb responded by reiterating what has already been done to relieve some tax burdens but said they must be tedious in choosing how much more, if anything, to cut.
“We’ve been cutting taxes and we’re going into a budget session where priorities will be determined,” said Holcomb. “We’ve recently eliminated some taxes and we’ve been reducing taxes in terms of income, in terms of utility receipts tax. So, when you reduce those taxes it has an impact on your revenue.”
He is looking forward to the latest state economic forecast set to be released in mid-December. Holcomb said that would give he and lawmakers a better idea on what to push for without going overboard on stifling state revenues.