Medical Marijuana Bills Co-Sponsorship Analysis

Who authored and co-sponsored the competing medical marijuana bills in Wisconisin for the 2021-22 legislative session?

The Republicans

Assembly Bill 1067 / Senate Bill 1034 Partisan Republican Bill to create a medical marijuana program.

Two (2) Republican Senate bill authors:

Senators Mary Felzkowski and Kathy Bernier (not seeking re-election) and zero Democrats co-sponsors.

Eighteen (18) total Republican co-sponsors in the Assembly and zero Democratic co-sponsors:

Snyder, Schraa, Rozar, Edming, Kitchens, Krug, Loudenbeck, Macco, Novak, Sortwell, Tittl, Brooks, Cabral-Guevara, James, Knodl, Plumer, Spiros and Summerfield.

No Democrat in the Assembly co-sponsored this bill.

This is the first time Incumbent Representatives Brooks, Macco, Knodl and Spiros have co-sponsored medical marijuana legislation.

WE KNOW

Although the Republican bill may not be perfect, you will have a chance to add input to the bill if a public hearing is scheduled, during the upcoming campaign season and next session.

So if my math is correct, the 2021-22 legislation session had 38 Democrats holding office in the State Assembly out of a total of 99. (Many Democrats indicated they would vote yes to the Republican bill if it hit their desk) We tried to encourage 100% co-sponsorship of this and the decriminalization bills; which obviously did not happen.

Not all Republican “supporters” of medical marijuana are listed either. There are many that say they support it and there are a few more that have been past co-sponsors of legislation that just did not sign onto anything this year.

The strategy of 100% co-sponsorship by the Democrats would have said something and doing the math, 38 Democrats in addition to the 18 Republicans listed give this piece of legislation 56 votes, enough votes to pass! See where I am going with this?

The Democrats +1

Assembly Bill 1063 / Senate Bill 1035 Partisan Democrat patient focused medical marijuana bill.

Five (5) Democrat Bill Authors:

Senators Erpenbach (not seeking re-election), Bewley (not seeking re-election), Johnson, Carpenter, Roys and Ringhand (not seeking re-election).

No Republican Senator co-sponsored this bill.

Thirteen (13) Democrat co-sponsors in the Assembly:

Hesselbein, Considine, Cabrera, Milroy, Hebl, Sinicki, S. Rodriguez, Andraca, Emerson, Subeck, Shankland, Ohnstad and Stubbs.

One (1) Republican co-sponsor in the Assembly:

Rep. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton)

It is going to take more than “RCG” to get this done, but I thank her for doing the right thing. Side notes on Rep. Cabral-Guevara: 1) This was her first term as an Assembly Rep. 2) She was one of the most vocal supporters of cannabis reform in the Republican party primary races. 3) She announced she will not seek re-election in the assembly in 2022, but instead will seek election in Senate District 19 as Senator Roger Roth from Appleton gives up his seat to run for Lt. Governor in 2022.

Perhaps instead of competing medical marijuana bills these people listed should officially form The Wisconsin Cannabis Caucus and work on one bill together! The official establishment of this Caucus would represent the growing, bipartisan support in our Senate and Assembly for marijuana reform.