Daily Brew: Missouri will have three marijuana initiatives on its November ballot

August 6, 2018

Plus, Federal judge issued a decision to block the release of digital firearms blueprints used by 3-D printers & Checking in with the Kavanaugh confirmation   Welcome to the Monday, August 6 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: In November, Missouri will vote on three ballot measures legalizing medical marijuana Federal judge issued a decision to block the release of digital firearms blueprints used by 3-D printers Checking in with the Kavanaugh confirmation: Here’s what’s happened in the past few days 1, 2, 3...Voters in Missouri will see 3 ballot initiatives related to legalizing medical marijuana in November Missouri Secretary of State John Ashcroft certified five ballot initiatives, including three that relate to how the state would legalize medical marijuana, for the November election. The major differences between the three initiatives include tax rates and revenue allocations. Amendment 2 (Sponsor: New Approach Missouri) would tax medical marijuana sales at 4 percent and allocate the revenue to healthcare services for veterans. Amendment 3 (Sponsor: Find the Cures) would tax sales at 15 percent and allocate revenue to the establishment of a Biomedical Research and Drug Development Institute in Missouri. Proposition C (Sponsor: Missourians for Patient Care) would tax sales at 2 percent and divide revenue between veteran healthcare services, drug treatment, education, and law enforcement. While two of the ballot initiatives are constitutional amendments, one is a state statute (Proposition C). If voters approve both of the constitutional amendments, the measure receiving the most votes wins. If the statute wins more votes than the constitutional amendments, it’s unclear whether the statute would supersede the amendments that received fewer votes or, as is the general case with laws, the voter-approved constitutional amendments would supersede the statute despite receiving fewer votes. Missouri state law does not currently provide a protocol for when an initiated statute and an initiated amendment are in conflict. As the ballot initiatives also contain severability clauses, courts may determine that parts of a voter-approved statute and a voter-approved amendment that are not in conflict can both go into effect. A court ruling would likely be needed to determine the process. Currently, there are six marijuana-related measures on 2018 ballots. Five of them, including the three in Missouri, address medical marijuana. Oklahoma approved a medical marijuana initiative in June. One measure would legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan. Voters in Oklahoma and North Dakota could also consider recreational marijuana initiatives this year, pending signature verifications. Heading into this November, 30 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized medical marijuana. Learn more         Federal judge blocks release of digital firearms blueprints used by 3-D printers Judge Robert Lasnik, nominated by President Bill Clinton (D), of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, blocked the publication of digital blueprints of firearms using a 3-D printer. The decision prevented the U.S. Department of State from allowing the nonprofit organization Defense Distributed to release digital blueprints online. The State Department had previously reached a settlement with Defense Distributed in June 2018 to reverse an 2013 Obama-era regulation that prohibited the release of the blueprints. Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson argued that the prohibition violated his First Amendment right to free speech and Second Amendment right to bear arms. Democratic state attorneys general in eight states (Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington) and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit against the State Department on July 30, 2018. The lawsuit alleges that the State Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide 30 days' notice of the regulatory reversal to the relevant congressional committees. The lawsuit also claims that the regulatory change violates the Tenth Amendment by contradicting state-level firearms laws and potentially allowing for the manufacture and possession of firearms by unlawful individuals. President Trump weighed in on the case via Twitter prior to Lasnik’s decision, stating, “I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Lasnik scheduled another hearing in the case for August 10, 2018, in order to further examine arguments related to the First Amendment. Learn more→ Kavanaugh confirmation updates The National Archives said it would be unable to complete a records request Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) made related to Brett Kavanaugh’s tenure in the George W. Bush administration until October. The letter cited the number of documents, which it estimated as 850,000 pages of email records, as the reason the request would take until October to fulfill. Grassley, along with Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members John Cornyn (Texas), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Lee (Utah), and Thom Tillis (N.C.), held a press conference where they discussed the number of documents to be reviewed as part of Kavanaugh’s background survey. They noted an initial release of 125,000 documents related to Kavanaugh’s other jobs would provide a sufficient start to reviewing Kavanaugh’s record. On Friday, the National Archives also said that it would also be unable to respond to Presidential Records Act (PRA) special access requests from ranking minority members. Only a chair or the committee itself can make such a request. After declining to schedule a meeting with Kavanaugh for weeks, Feinstein and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to meet with him after they return from recess on August 15. Learn more→