Montana Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2020)

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Montana Marijuana Legalization Initiative
Flag of Montana.png
Election date
November 3, 2020
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
State statute		Origin
Citizens

The Montana Marijuana Legalization Initiative was not on the ballot in Montana as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020.

This initiative would have legalized, regulated, and taxed recreational marijuana.[1][2]

Text of measure

Full text

A preliminary draft of the full text of the measure is available here.

Sponsors

New Approach Montana was behind this initiative. The group was originally called Coalition 406 but was renamed to New Approach Montana after partnering with the Marijuana Policy Project, a national nonprofit that lobbies for and supports efforts to decriminalize and legalize marijuana.[3]

Campaign finance

Total campaign contributions:
Support: $0.00
Opposition: $0.00
See also: Campaign finance requirements for Montana ballot measures

There was one committee, New Approach Montana, registered in support of the measure. As of January 25, 2020, the committee had not reported any campaign finance data.[4]

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose the measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Recreational marijuana in the United States

See also: History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of July 2019, 11 states and the District of Columbia had legalized marijuana for recreational purposes; nine through statewide citizen initiatives, and two through bills approved by state legislatures and signed by governors. Colorado and Washington both opted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. In a subsequent Colorado measure, voters enacted a statewide marijuana taxation system. The three ballot measures that passed in 2014 were Oregon's Measure 91, Alaska's Measure 2, and the District of Columbia's Initiative 71. Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada approved recreational marijuana legalization ballot measures in November 2016. The Vermont State Legislature approved a bill in mid-January 2018 to allow recreational marijuana, and Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed it into law on January 22, 2018. Gov. Scott vetoed a previous bill to legalize marijuana in May 2017. On June 25, 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law legalizing the use and possession of recreational marijuana. Initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana were on the ballot in November 2018 in Michigan and North Dakota. The Michigan initiative was approved, and the North Dakota initiative was defeated.[5][6][7]

The map below details the status of recreational marijuana legalization in the states as of November 2018. States shaded in green had legalized recreational marijuana usage (the shades of green indicate the years in which ballot measures were adopted; light green indicates measures approved in 2012, medium green indicates measures approved in 2014, medium-dark green indicates measures approved in 2016, and dark green indicates measures approved in 2018). The states shaded in dark gray had defeated ballot measures that proposed to legalize recreational marijuana. States in blue had recreational marijuana approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor. The remaining states (those shaded in light gray) had not legalized recreational marijuana.

Recreational marijuana legalization measures, 2012-2020

The following table provides information on the political context of the states that had voted on legalization measures as of 2022.

Click "Show" to expand the table.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Montana

In Montana, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Moreover, signature collection must be distributed such that petitions include signatures equal to 5 percent of the votes cast for governor in each of one-third (34) of the state's legislative districts in the last gubernatorial election. Petitioners have a maximum of one year to collect signatures and get them verified by county elections officials.

The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2020 ballot:

  • Signatures: 25,468 valid signatures were required.
  • Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures to county clerks was June 19, 2020. The deadline to submit signatures to the secretary of state was July 17, 2020.

County election officials check each signature to make sure the name corresponds to the name of a registered voter. Then they use a 5 percent random sampling method to check the authenticity of the signatures. Signature petitions are then sent to the secretary of state, which certifies the measure for the ballot if enough valid signatures were submitted.

Stages of this initiative

  • A preliminary version of this initiative was filed on January 13, 2020.[1]
  • The initiative was withdrawn on February 4, 2020.[1]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Montana Secretary of State, "Proposed 2020 ballot issues," accessed January 14, 2020
  2. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Montana Activists Submit Measure To Legalize Marijuana In 2020," January 13, 2020
  3. ↑ Missoulian, "Cannabis campaign submits legalization drafts for 2020 ballot," January 14, 2020
  4. ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Campaign Electronic Reporting System," accessed January 25, 2020
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Vermont
  6. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  7. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
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