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Oklahoma State Question 819, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2022)

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Oklahoma State Question 819
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Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

Oklahoma State Question 819, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative, was not on the ballot in Oklahoma as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

The initiative would have legalized and regulated marijuana for persons 21 years old and older and would have imposed a 15% excise tax on marijuana sales for purchases by an individual without a medical marijuana license.[1][2]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:[3]

“

The Oklahoma Marijuana Regulation and Right to Use Act

This constitutional amendment: grants the right to use marijuana to persons 21 years of age and older; establishes individual patient, professional, privacy, employment, medical, parental, student, firearm ownership, state-licensure, and due process rights; has a fiscal impact and pays for itself with taxes on marijuana sales; sets a tax rate of 15% on marijuana sales, except for persons with a medical marijuana patient or caregiver license; directs surplus revenue to pay for education, local and military veterans mental health programs, programs for families with disabled children, rural water infrastructure, law enforcement training, research, marijuana waste dean-up, and agricultural damage insurance; adapts to future federal legalization of marijuana, including a 3% wholesale export tax; provides for judicial review, severability and provides definitions of terms used in this amendment; becomes effective upon passage and provides time for implementation.[4]

”

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Sponsors

Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed the initiative, as well as State Question 818, an initiative designed to create the State Cannabis Commission to regulate medical marijuana.[1]

Background

Recreational marijuana in the United States

See also: History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of November 2020, 16 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. Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota approved legalization through initiatives in 2020. New Jersey approved legalization through a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in 2020.[5][6]

The map below details the status of recreational marijuana legalization in the states as of November 2020. 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 and 2020). 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 Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 15 percent of the votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election. Signatures must be submitted 90 days after the initiative is cleared for circulation by the secretary of state. Measures are generally placed on the next general election ballot following signature verification, but the governor may call a special election or place the measure on the primary ballot. If petitioners are targeting a specific election, the secretary of state recommends that signatures be submitted eight months prior to the election; however, they must be submitted a minimum of 60 days before the election to make the ballot.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2022 ballot:

The secretary of state verifies signatures and submits the totals and the vote totals that determine the requirement to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which makes the final determination of sufficiency.

Details about this initiative

  • The initiative was filed by Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA).[1]
  • Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed multiple versions of the initiative: State Question 817 on October 7, 2021 and State Question 819 on October 28, 2021. Proponents withdrew State Question 817 on November 29, 2021.[7]
  • Initiative 819 was challenged in the Oklahoma Supreme Court on November 5, 2021. On May 9, 2022, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck Section 5 of the ballot measure and struck certain provisions of the ballot measure's gist concerning section 5. The revised ballot measure was cleared for signature gathering on May 24, 2022, with signatures due by August 22, 2022.[3]
  • Sponsors did not submit signatures by the deadline.[3]

Challenge in the state supreme court

  
Lawsuit overview
Issue: Whether the measure is constitutional; whether signatures collected for it will be valid
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court
Ruling: Ruled that measure is legally sufficient after striking Section 5 concerning retroactive expungement for marijuana convictions and amending the gist
Plaintiff(s): Paul TayDefendant(s): Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action
Plaintiff argument:
All signatures collected in Native American territory would be invalid; the measure is unconstitutional		Defendant argument:
The lawsuit is a challenge attempting to try to block the measure by going after multiple points to see if any of them hold up in court; proponents are confident they will prevail

  Source: Cannabis Times

Paul Tay, a 2022 gubernatorial candidate and former Tulsa mayoral candidate, alleged that the initiative is unconstitutional and that signatures collected for it in Native American territory would be invalid due to legal precedent set in the U.S. Supreme Court case McGirt v. Oklahoma. Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action Director Jed Green said the lawsuit is a challenge attempting to try to block the measure by going after multiple points to see if any of them hold up in court. Proponents said they are confident they will prevail. Cannabis Business Times reported that Tay was incarcerated at the time the legal challenge was filed.[8] On August 23, 2021, the Tulsa Police Department arrested Tay on charges of first-degree rape, kidnapping, and assault with a dangerous weapon. According to information released by the Tulsa Police Department's Special Victims Unit, the victim reported that she met Tay in Bethany, Oklahoma, in response to an ad to work for his campaign. She alleged that Tay locked her in his car, hit her with a pipe, and sexually assaulted her. [9] Tay's arraignment was scheduled for August 30, 2021.[10]

On May 9, 2022, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the ballot measure concerning retroactive expungement for marijuana convictions. Proponents submitted a revised version of the ballot measure to comply with the court's ruling, which was cleared for signature gathering on May 24, 2022, with signatures due by August 22, 2022.[3]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, "Recreational Petition," accessed October 7, 2021
  2. ↑ Oklahoma Secretary of State, "State Questions," accessed January 5, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Oklahoma Secretary of State, "State Question 819," accessed May 28, 2022
  4. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  5. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  6. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
  7. ↑ Oklahoma Secretary of State, "State Questions," accessed January 5, 2022
  8. ↑ Cannabis Business Times, "Oklahoma Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Initiative Challenged in Court," accessed November 17, 2021
  9. ↑ KFOR Noon News, "Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate arrested for rape, kidnapping," August 24, 2021
  10. ↑ Inside Edition, "Oklahoma Governor Candidate Paul Tay Arrested for Alleged Rape and Attack of Woman Who Answered a Campaign Ad," August 27, 2021
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