Editor's Note: In late September, the Pennsylvania Senate passed the state's medical marijuana bill (Senate Bill 1182) by a vote of 43-7. The bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives before it can take effect (the GOP-controlled house wanted to take a more thorough look at the bill when it would have been up for vote this fall), and then needs to be signed by the governor. Current Governor Tom Corbett has been opposed to decriminalizing marijuana, and was initially completely opposed to any medical marijuana programs until 2014, when he changed his stance to supporting a very limited medical marijuana initiative. But on Election Day, Pennsylvania voters ousted Corbett for Tom Wolf, who–as reported in this article from 6ABC–"would sign legislation to legalize marijuana for broader medicinal purposes and supports decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana."
Democrat Tom Wolf was elected Pennsylvania governor Tuesday after the businessman and first-time candidate spent $10 million of his own money on an early TV ad campaign that endeared him to voters and helped send unpopular Gov. Tom Corbett to a historic defeat.
When he takes office in January, Wolf will likely face a Republican-controlled Legislature and a yawning budget deficit as he tries to make good on a promise to dramatically increase the state government's share of public school costs.
