Tick, tock: Clock starts for governor to make decision about legalizing weed in Delaware

In the coming days, Gov. John Carney will decide if he will once again veto a bill that would legalize marijuana or if he will allow it and a bill to create a recreational industry to become law in Delaware.

Lawmakers on Tuesday released a bill, also known as HB 1, that would legalize the personal use of marijuana to the governor's office. Legislation that would create a recreational marijuana industry, also known as HB 2, followed on Friday.

Because the General Assembly is in session, Carney has 10 days (this doesn’t include Sundays) to take action. The clock starts when the bill is released to his office. He has three options: He can sign it, he can veto it, or he can not sign it and let the bill become law without his signature.

When must the governor decide?

Carney has until April 22 to act on the legalization bill and April 26 to on the regulation bill.

A Carney spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that the HB1 bill has been released to the governor’s office. She declined to comment on if Carney will sign or veto the legislation.

Rep. Ed Osienski, a Newark Democrat who has shepherded this legislation for years, said lawmakers intentionally staggered the timing of the bills being released. The General Assembly is on Easter Break until April 25. The thinking, Osiesnki said, is that if Carney decides to veto HB 1, then lawmakers can act quickly when they return from the break.

"If we override his veto," Osienski said, "I would think instead of going through that twice, he would just let HB 2 become law. Maybe save him the embarrassment of having two pieces of legislation overridden."

Does this sound familiar?

Delaware has been in this position before.

INSIDE LEG HALL: Delaware lawmakers vote to legalize recreational marijuana. What will the governor do?

In a historic moment last year, Carney vetoed a similar legalization bill, finding himself at odds with many in the Democratic Party. Lawmakers made the rare attempt to override a governor’s veto, but Democrats failed to get enough votes.

What's different about this year?

Unlike last year, the Delaware General Assembly in late March overwhelmingly passed two pieces of recreational marijuana legislation:

• One would legalize the "personal use quantity" of marijuana, which varies by cannabis form, for people ages 21 and older.

• The other would create and regulate a recreational marijuana industry.

Osienski was also able to get hesitant Democrats to sign on and also benefited from the new progressive Democrats who have recently been elected. House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf was the sole Democrat to not support the legalization bill. He voted in favor of the regulation bill.

The Newark lawmaker said he and Schwartzkopf did have some conversations with the governor's office on these bills since they were passed last month. Osienski said he is still not sure what Carney will do.

Will lawmakers override the governor if he vetoes the bills?

If Carney decides to veto these bills, it’s once again unclear if Democrats have the political will to override him. But Osienski remains confident that lawmakers "are going to stick together."

"I do think the temperature is different," Osienski said. "I think my colleagues have been through that once. And they heard about it from their constituents."

"They want to get these bills into law," he added. "And so I'm confident that we're going to have enough votes to override now."

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware marijuana legalization: Will Carney sign legislation?