As Pennsylvania faces an unprecedented financial crisis following the COVID-19 outbreak, Governor Tom Wolf calls to legalize weed to create a new source of revenue.
Just like it did with most economies around the world, the Coronavirus outbreak has steered Pennsylvania’s economy into a recession. And, despite the government’s efforts to create programs such as the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Paycheck Protection Program to help the citizens, more needs to be done to recover from the economic crisis.
Governor Tom Wolf explained that repairing the damage that the pandemic has brought on Pennsylvania’s economy isn’t going to be easy and that the legislature can help the state get back on track as fast as possible.
In a conference on Tuesday, the Governor also said that more money should be provided to front-line workers and working parents. Plus, he wants to create more grants that will support small businesses in Pennsylvania. Wolf explained that the government may be able to fund these grants using the $1.3 billion the government still has from the federal Coronavirus stimulus relief, and from the revenue it would get from legalizing recreational marijuana.
On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf released a legislative agenda that aims to assist in the economic recovery after the recession caused by the Coronavirus outbreak.
The Governor had a press release in which he released his agenda. The legislative agenda included measures such as the legalization of recreational marijuana, explaining that some proceeds of the revenue will be used as grants for existing small businesses while 50% of the funds being exclusively dedicated to historically disadvantaged businesses.
Besides the small business grant funding, the Governor also claimed that a portion of the revenue is going to be used to create restorative justice program that will focus on “repairing the harm done to crime victims and communities as a result of marijuana criminalization”. In addition, Governor Wolf also asked the General Assembly to implement criminal justice reform policies that will help restore justice for those who were convicted of marijuana-related offenses.
Moreover, in the press release, Wolf also proposed many other initiatives, including offering hazard pay to front line workers. The Governor also proposed expanding access to child care and government reform measures and extra support for small businesses in Pennsylvania.
In March, it became clear that the pandemic was going to hurt small businesses across Pennsylvania as Governor Tom Wolf issued a mandatory shutdown order of all businesses in Pennsylvania which were not considered “life-sustaining” as a measure to stop the virus from spreading. Moreover, the Governor also gave a list of industry groups that may or may not continue their physical operations.
Since then, local officials found that unemployment in Pennsylvania grew at an alarming rate. Moreover, according to a report, 1.2 million employees worked in industries impacted by business establishment closures.
The report shows that 79% of construction workers and 5% workers from the accommodation and food services sector filed unemployment compensation claims due to the impact of the on-going pandemic over the business sector in Pennsylvania. In addition to the construction and accommodation and food services sectors, retail trade and healthcare and social assistance sectors were also highly impacted by the pandemic.
A few months later, in June, Gov. Tom Wolf announced $225 million in grants for small businesses impacted by the public health crisis. Now, the Governor announced that new grants are planned to be offered, particularly to historically disadvantaged businesses. This new program, compared with the one issued in March, will use an automated scoring system that will help identify and give priority to low-income business owners, businesses that are operating in poor or rural areas, and businesses from the highly impacted sectors.
Now, like personal loans are for average Pennsylvania citizens, private business loans are also available for business owners affected by the pandemic who are trying to recover from the lost revenue. But, it’s definitely refreshing to see that the government is also making efforts to support these highly impacted small businesses.
In the press release, Governor Wolf stressed the idea that the legalization of recreational marijuana could be a new source of revenue that will provide the funds necessary for helping small businesses, front-line workers, and working parents.
But, the legalization of recreational marijuana isn’t a new idea in Pennsylvania. Since 2016, the government in Pennsylvania started to create the infrastructure to begin to regulate the medical marijuana industry. Since then, Governor Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman were pretty vocal about supporting the full legalization of recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania.
So far, eleven states have legalized the use of recreational marijuana among adults. Moreover, Senate Bill 350, also known as the “gold standard” legalization bill, is ready and waiting for the legislature in Pennsylvania to act on it.
However, the idea of the legalization of marijuana is no stranger to delays as many lawmakers have failed to pass similar bills in the past.
Even now, despite Gov. Wolf providing exact data on how the legalization of marijuana could help Pennsylvania’s economic recovery, not everybody is on board with the Governor’s idea. For example, House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff did not agree with the proposals of Gov. Tom Wolf, questioning the Governor’s real motives.
The executive director of the Pennsylvania Chief of Police Association, Scott Bohn, also shared his concerns with Wolf’s announcement, claiming that the legalization of marijuana might bring significant challenges to law enforcement which might result from the unanticipated consequences the legalization has on crime and public safety.
It’s still not clear how much revenue the sales of marijuana could bring, but estimates reveal that the state might see hundreds of millions in taxes from the legalization of cannabis. Moreover, it is also estimated that the industry will help create many jobs for the citizens of Pennsylvania.