Keep BUD in the Budget!
Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep folks safer at home, the governor is once again calling on Wisconsinites to share their thoughts at virtual listening sessions. Because The People’s Budget listening sessions are being held virtually this year, listening sessions will be focused by topic area:
- Healthcare and Public Health
- Environment, Infrastructure, and the Economy
- Criminal Justice Reform
- Our Kids and Education
These listening sessions will provide the governor with an opportunity to hear about the issues affecting our communities and our state directly from Wisconsin families and workers.
Wisconsinites interested in helping craft the 2021-23 People’s Budget can submit a written public comment on any topic at any time here. If you are interested in participating in the People’s Budget listening sessions, you can register to attend here.
If you need some pointers on how cannabis reform relates to our budget, please use the chart below. We know for a fact that Governor Evers is friendly to medical marijuana and decriminalizing small personal amounts of cannabis from a crime to a fine. We also know for a fact that in the 2019-20 budget process Republicans stripped anything marijuana reform from the final budget. Republican leadership and Republican key committee chairs withheld several bills from even a public hearing, including a medical marijuana start up bill vetted by the Republican Caucus.
Still, the landscape in politics does change and coming off an election we can see which of our newly elected official stands up for our rights and which ones do not. Do not give up the fight!
Keep Bud in the Budget by Jay SelthofnerEven if marijuana reform does not make its way back into the budget or is again stripped out of it, there is no doubt that we still need to hold our newly elected officials accountable and make marijuana reform a priority in the 2021-22 legislative cycle.