H.R. 5068 — MORE Act

This section states 14 congressional findings on the disproportionate harms of federal cannabis prohibition to communities of color (e.g., people of color are nearly 4 times more likely to be arrested for possession despite equal usage rates, Black men receive drug sentences 13.1% longer than White men, and Latinos are 6.5 times more likely to receive federal sentences for possession than non-Hispanic Whites); state legalization trends (e.g., 40 states plus territories allow access and 24 states plus territories legalize adult recreational use); market growth ($20 billion in legal sales in 2020, projected to $40.5 billion by 2025); enforcement costs ($3.6 billion annually, over 200,000 arrests per year); and barriers to minority participation (e.g., fewer than 20% of owners are minorities, 4% are Black, licensing costs exceed $700,000, and federal laws limit capital access).

This section strikes “marijuana and other” from the phrase “marijuana and other controlled substances” in the investigative authority granted to up to 1,000 specially trained Forest Service special agents and law enforcement officers under the National Forest System Drug Control Act of 1986 (i.e., to “controlled substances”). (As background, the Act authorizes such officers to enforce federal drug laws, including 21 U.S.C. 841 prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, or dispensation of controlled substances, on National Forest System lands and in related off-system pursuits; thus, this change excludes cannabis following its descheduling elsewhere in the bill.)

This section directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly compile, maintain, and publicly release demographic data on business owners and employees in the cannabis industry (i.e., entities licensed under state or local law to engage in commercial cannabis-related activity). The data must cover age, certifications and licenses, disability status, educational attainment, family and marital status, nativity, race and Hispanic ethnicity, school enrollment, veteran status, and sex, while keeping confidential individuals' names, addresses, and other identifying information.

This section establishes the Opportunity Trust Fund in the Treasury of the United States, to consist of amounts appropriated or credited to it, including transfers equivalent to net revenues from taxes imposed under new chapter 56 of subtitle E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC) on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States. Amounts in the fund are available without further appropriation as follows: (1) 50% to the Attorney General to carry out sec. 3052(a) of part OO of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (i.e., grants for community policing and violence intervention programs); (2) 10% to the Attorney General to carry out sec. 3052(b) of that part (i.e., grants for drug treatment and mental health services); (3) 20% to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator to carry out sec. 6(b)(1) of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (i.e., grants for small business development in communities affected by marijuana prohibition); and (4) 20% to the SBA Administrator to carry out sec. 6(b)(2) of that Act (i.e., grants for job training programs). New IRC chapter 56 imposes a tax on cannabis products (defined as any article containing cannabis, excluding FDA-approved drugs or industrial hemp) equal to, for the first five calendar years after the chapter's effective date, a percentage of the product's removal price—5% for the first two years, 6% for the third year, 7% for the fourth year, and 8% for the fifth year—and, thereafter, an equivalent amount based on 8% of the prevailing U.S. sales price of comparable cannabis flowers (per ounce) or tetrahydrocannabinol (per gram). Chapter 56 also includes subchapters on occupational taxes, bonds and permits, operations, and penalties.

This section establishes within the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs a Cannabis Justice Office, headed by a Director, to administer the Community Reinvestment Grant Program and other delegated functions. The office is authorized to employ full-time staff (with initial hiring requirements including at least one-third of total employees within six months of enactment and at least one legal counsel), whose salaries and operations are funded through the opportunity trust fund established under section 9512(c)(1) and (2) of the Internal Revenue Code. This section further establishes the Community Reinvestment Grant Program under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to award grants to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations representative of communities adversely impacted by the War on Drugs (i.e., communities with high rates of cannabis-related arrests, convictions, or adjudications) for services including job training, reentry services, legal aid (including expungement of cannabis convictions), literacy programs, youth mentoring, health education, and substance use disorder treatment. This section directs the Small Business Administration to establish the Cannabis Restorative Opportunity Program, which provides microloans and technical assistance under the SBA's section 7(m) microloan program (15 U.S.C. 636(m)) to small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals operating in eligible states or localities. This section also directs the Small Business Administration to establish the Equitable Licensing Grant Program to award grants to states and localities for developing cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers for individuals adversely impacted by the War on Drugs, requiring grantees to include at least four specified elements such as (A) fee waivers for low-income first-time applicants, (B) prohibitions on denying licenses based on pre-legalization cannabis convictions, and (C) prohibitions on other specified barriers.

This section defines in the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632) the terms "cannabis" (excluding hemp and FDA-approved products), "cannabis-related legitimate business" (a state-legal small business handling cannabis or cannabis products, including cultivation, production, sale, or transport), and "service provider" (a business selling goods or services to such entities without itself handling cannabis). It prohibits the following SBA programs from declining services to otherwise eligible small business concerns solely because they are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers: (1) small business development centers, which provide management and technical assistance; (2) women's business centers, which offer training and counseling to women entrepreneurs; (3) SCORE, which delivers volunteer business mentoring; (4) veteran business outreach centers, which support veteran-owned businesses; (5) 7(a) loans, the SBA's primary guaranteed loan program; (6) disaster loans for economic injury or physical damage; and (7) microloans, which provide small loans and technical assistance through intermediaries.

This section prohibits denial of any Federal public benefit—as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1611(c)—to any person based on the person's use or possession of cannabis or a conviction or juvenile delinquency adjudication for a cannabis offense. It further prohibits federal agencies from using past or present cannabis or marijuana use as a criterion for granting, denying, or rescinding a security clearance.

This section provides that, for purposes of the immigration laws, cannabis is not a controlled substance and prohibits denial of any immigration benefit or protection to an alien based on any cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct, arrest, conviction, or admission relating to possession or use legalized by this Act), regardless of when it occurred. The section defines cannabis to include all parts of the Cannabis sativa L. plant and derivatives (excluding hemp as defined in the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, mature stalks and certain other non-resinous products, and FDA-approved drug products); it also amends the Immigration and Nationality Act in seven provisions—§§101(f)(3), 210(c)(2)(B)(ii)(III), 212(h), 237(a)(2)(B)(i), 244(c)(2)(A)(iii)(II), 245(h)(2)(B), and 245A(d)(2)(B)(ii)(II)—by striking prior exceptions for a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana. (Thus, such prior minor offenses no longer exempt marijuana-related conduct from grounds of inadmissibility, deportability, or ineligibility for good moral character, cancellation of removal, or adjustment of status, though cannabis is fully excluded as a controlled substance.)

This section establishes expungement procedures for non-violent federal cannabis offenses (i.e., offenses no longer punishable under this Act), including convictions and juvenile delinquency adjudications entered by federal courts on or after May 1, 1971 (effective date of the Controlled Substances Act), and associated arrests. (1) For individuals not under a criminal justice sentence (i.e., not serving probation, parole, supervised release, imprisonment, or similar post-May 1, 1971), federal districts must conduct a comprehensive review and issue expungement orders within one year of enactment, notify affected individuals, seal records (accessible only by further court order), and appoint counsel for indigent petitioners. (2) For individuals under such a sentence, courts must hold resentencing hearings upon motion (by the individual, Bureau of Prisons, government attorney, or court), expunge convictions and arrests, vacate existing sentences (imposing any reduced sentence as if this Act were in effect at the time of offense), and seal records; counsel is appointed for indigents. (Thus, expunged individuals may treat records as never occurring and are immune from civil or criminal penalties for perjury or false statements due to non-disclosure.) Individuals receiving an aggravating role adjustment under U.S. Sentencing Guideline §3B1.1(a) are ineligible. This section further directs the Comptroller General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to conduct a demographic study of individuals convicted of federal cannabis offenses—including data on age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, and community type—and submit a report to Congress within two years of enactment.

This section directs the replacement of the terms "marihuana" or "marijuana" (in both lowercase and capitalized forms) with "cannabis" or "Cannabis" throughout U.S. statutes, rulings, regulations, and interpretations of federal administrative bureaus and agencies.

This section provides a severability clause stating that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act, its amendments, and their application to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.

This section defines the term “cannabis offense” for purposes of the Act as (1) a criminal offense related to cannabis that, under federal law, is no longer punishable pursuant to this Act or the amendments made by this Act; or (2) a criminal offense related to cannabis that, under state law, is no longer an offense, was designated a lesser offense, or had its penalty reduced pursuant to or following adoption of a state law authorizing cannabis sale or use.

This section directs the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the Small Business Administration to issue or amend rules, standard operating procedures, and other legal or policy guidance necessary to implement this Act not later than one year after the date of enactment. After that period, the agencies may not issue any publicly available sub-regulatory guidance—including compliance guides, manuals, advisories, and notices—without providing 60 days' notice to appropriate congressional committees that includes a description and justification for the guidance.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to provide Congress, not later than two years after enactment, with a study on the societal impacts of states' legalization of recreational cannabis, addressing 21 specified areas: (1) sick days reported to employers; (2) workers' compensation claims; (3) state tax revenue from legal marijuana sales; (4) changes in government spending on enforcement and court proceedings; (5) federal welfare assistance applications; (6) methamphetamine possession arrest rates; (7) methamphetamine and narcotics hospitalization rates; (8) medical uses of marijuana and its byproducts; (9) health uses, including mental health, for veterans; (10) marijuana-impaired driving arrest rates; (11) traffic deaths and injuries involving marijuana-impaired drivers; (12) minor arrests for marijuana charges; (13) violent crime rates; (14) marijuana-related school suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals; (15) high school dropout rates; (16) changes in district-wide and statewide standardized test scores; (17) marijuana-related hospital admissions and poison control calls; (18) marijuana-related juvenile admissions to substance rehabilitation and mental health facilities; (19) marijuana diversion to and seizures in neighboring states; (20) marijuana plants grown illegally on public lands; and (21) court filings under state organized crime statutes.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), to conduct a study on technologies and methods for law enforcement to detect marijuana impairment in drivers, with the study due not later than one year after enactment of this Act. The section authorizes $10 million to carry out the study.

This section directs the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), not later than one year after enactment, to (1) conduct a study on the workplace impacts of state recreational cannabis legalization and submit a report to Congress, and (2) develop best practices for employers transitioning cannabis-use policies, prioritizing federal infrastructure projects, transportation, public safety, and national security.

This section directs the Secretary of Education, not later than one year after enactment, to (1) conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on the impact of state recreational cannabis legalization on schools and school-aged children; and (2) develop best practices for educators and administrators to protect school-aged children from negative impacts of such legalization.