Pennsylvania’s governor and the state’s divided Legislature remain at an impasse on a path forward to legalize adult-use cannabis amid ongoing budget negotiations that must be hashed out by the end of the month.
While Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has called for cannabis reform for those 21 and older in his past two budget addresses, and while House Democrats rammed a partisan legalization bill through their chamber last month, Senate Republicans appear unwilling to take up a proposal that doesn’t originate under their leadership.
Under Shapiro’s vision, the commonwealth would legalize adult-use cannabis by July 1, 2025, and launch taxed dispensary sales by Jan. 1, 2026. This would provide roughly $1.3 billion in state revenue during the first five years of a commercial market, including $250 million upfront to bolster the governor’s current budget plan.
However, Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said cannabis legalization is a nonstarter as the budget talks loom, especially after House Democrats passed a controversial bill that would have established a state-run dispensary model through licensed liquor establishments. The Senate Law and Justice Committee killed that bill on arrival.
Shapiro was asked about Pittman’s refusal to entertain cannabis legalization in budget negotiations during the governor’s visit on June 18 to the c.
“We’re going to continue to work through this,” Shapiro said about cannabis reform. “I think this is an issue of competitiveness. Every state around us, with the exception of West Virginia, has legalized [adult-use cannabis], and Pennsylvanians are driving into those states in order to purchase cannabis legally and pay taxes to those states, so those schoolkids get more money for their schools; their parks and roads and bridges get repaired; their mass-transit systems get funded; their housing stock gets replenished.
“I’m not sure why we want to do that for the good people of Ohio, or New York, or Maryland, or New Jersey, when we should be doing it for people here in Pennsylvania.”
Shapiro’s comments came as Pittman told reporters that same day that he doesn’t anticipate a budget deal to be struck before the state’s statutory deadline on June 30. The new fiscal year starts on July 1.
“I see no practical way that a budget will be completed on June 30,” the Senate majority leader said. “We are engaged in conversations, but those conversations have not gone as quickly as we would prefer.”
Pennsylvania—along with Michigan and Minnesota—is one of three states in the nation where the same party doesn’t control both chambers of the Legislature, making it more difficult to agree upon a budget.
In the commonwealth, Republicans and Democrats are sparring over how to balance a roughly $1.6 billion deficit. In addition to cannabis, the political divide extends to disagreements over Medicaid spending, public transit and school funding, infrastructure improvements and energy investments.
Although Senate Republicans killed House-passed legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis via liquor store dispensaries last month, a bipartisan legalization proposal is brewing in the upper chamber.
Sens. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, and Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, who worked together on legalization bills in previous legislative sessions, have yet to officially file their 2025 adult-use legislation; however, they circulated a sponsorship memo in February.
Although Laughlin shares the common goal of more permissive cannabis laws with Shapiro, the GOP senator has been critical of the governor’s call for reform.
“I believe that if there’s a path to getting adult-use cannabis passed, the governor himself is going to have to roll his sleeves up and help do some of the work,” Laughlin said during a committee hearing last month. “I have not seen that yet, but hopefully we can get there, and I know it’s going to be a vigorously discussed process.”
Laughlin had also knocked the 26% effective tax rate on cannabis sales that Shapiro proposed in his budget.
Beyond Pennsylvania’s forthcoming legalization specifics, Shapiro has continued his “keeping up with the Joneses” stance on why the commonwealth should join its neighbors and become the 25th state to allow adult-use cannabis.
“Its time has come,” the governor said. “I’ve spoken openly about how I’ve grappled with this issue as a father, as a former chief law enforcement officer of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. But I am where I am on it. I think it’s a competitiveness issue, and I hope we’re able to find a way to get that done.”
