Bill > HB5141

Introduced Session

Possession of marijuana. Legalizes simple possession of marijuana. Current law provides a civil penalty of no more than $25 for the simple possession of marijuana. The bill also provides that simple possession of marijuana or its use by a child younger than 18 years of age may constitute conduct that presents a serious threat to the well-being of a child for the purposes of defining a "child in need of services." The bill also prohibits any law-enforcement officer from lawfully searching or seizing any person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana and states that no evidence discovered or obtained as a result of such unlawful search or seizure shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. Additionally, the bill allows a person to petition for expungement of convictions, adjudications, and deferred disposition dismissals for marijuana possession when all court costs and fines and orders of restitution have been paid. The bill also removes marijuana paraphernalia from the definition of drug paraphernalia and eliminates the criminal penalty for the sale of or possession with the intent to sell such paraphernalia. The bill contains technical amendments.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Jennifer Carroll Foy (D)*,  Sally Hudson (D)*, 

Left in Courts of Justice (on 11/09/2020)

Official Document