President's Message

As has been said for almost 1000 years, “tide and time waits for no man.” The legislative session will adjourn Sine Die (literally “without day”) at midnight Wednesday. Included among the select list of top-of-mind issues is the legalization of recreational cannabis use.  This bill (Senate Bill 1118) has led a twisted legislative life. Merely getting to debate on the floor was not certain until recently. Once the bill hit the floor, allegations of trading children’s future in exchange for drug money were met by allegations of hypocrisy in ignoring the dangers of alcohol while reaping significant revenues for the state. The intrigue ramped up with allegations of legislative favors (we call them “rats”), other debate histrionics and, after five separate votes (including four separately called amendments), passed the Senate around 2:00 am last night and now heads to the House of Representatives battered and bruised. All in all, the chances for final passage are still positive, but the margin for error is slim.

Buffeting against the progress of the recreational cannabis bill is the headwind of General Assembly needing to debate and vote on all the budget bills — the ones that actually keep our state government open for business. There are still many bills we are either defending or supporting for you. For example, we are actively trying to kill a bill in the Senate that would place additional burdens on credit unions and banks dealing with judgment executions. Unfortunately, we just heard this afternoon that Senate President Pro Tempore, Marty Looney, backed the bill and now the fight has become that much harder. On the other hand, we are actively supporting State Treasurer Shawn Wooden’s “Baby Bonds” initiative and have good confidence that this bill will see its way through to the final passage.

The midnight oil is burning but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In service,
Bruce