Homegrown Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2649 To decriminalize cannabis, to establish an Equitable Licensing Grant Program in the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 19, 2021 Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on the Ju- diciary, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To decriminalize cannabis, to establish an Equitable Licens- ing Grant Program in the Small Business Administra- tion, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Homegrown Act of 4 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. DECRIMINALIZATION OF CANNABIS. 6 (a) CANNABIS REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE OF CON- 7 TROLLED SUBSTANCES.—Subsection (c) of schedule I of 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2649 IH section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 1 U.S.C. 812) is amended— 2 (1) by striking ‘‘Marihuana’’; and 3 (2) by striking ‘‘Tetrahydrocannabinols’’, 4 and renumbering accordingly. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO CONTROLLED 6 SUBSTANCES ACT.—The Controlled Substances Act (21 7 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) in section 102(44) (21 U.S.C. 802(44)), by 9 striking ‘‘marihuana,’’; 10 (2) in section 401(b) (21 U.S.C. 841(b))— 11 (A) in paragraph (1)— 12 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 13 (I) in clause (vi), by inserting 14 ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 15 (II) by striking (vii); and 16 (III) by redesignating clause 17 (viii) as clause (vii); 18 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 19 (I) in clause (vi), by inserting 20 ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 21 (II) by striking clause (vii); and 22 (III) by redesignating clause 23 (viii) as clause (vii); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2649 IH (iii) in subparagraph (C), in the first 1 sentence, by striking ‘‘subparagraphs (A), 2 (B), and (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara- 3 graphs (A) and (B)’’; 4 (iv) by striking subparagraph (D); 5 (v) by redesignating subparagraph (E) 6 as subparagraph (D); and 7 (vi) in subparagraph (D)(i), as so re- 8 designated, by striking ‘‘subparagraphs (C) 9 and (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 10 (C)’’; 11 (B) by striking paragraph (4); and 12 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (5), (6), 13 and (7) as paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respec- 14 tively; 15 (3) in section 402(c)(2)(B) (21 U.S.C. 16 842(c)(2)(B)), by striking ‘‘marihuana,’’; 17 (4) in section 403(d)(1) (21 U.S.C. 843(d)(1)), 18 by striking ‘‘marihuana,’’; 19 (5) in section 418(a) (21 U.S.C. 859(a)), by 20 striking the last sentence; 21 (6) in section 419(a) (21 U.S.C. 860(a)), by 22 striking the last sentence; 23 (7) in section 422(d) (21 U.S.C. 863(d))— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2649 IH (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 1 by striking ‘‘marijuana,’’; and 2 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘, such 3 as a marihuana cigarette,’’; and 4 (8) in section 516(d) (21 U.S.C. 886(d)), by 5 striking ‘‘section 401(b)(6)’’ each place the term ap- 6 pears and inserting ‘‘section 401(b)(5)’’. 7 (c) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 8 (1) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM DRUG CONTROL 9 ACT OF 1986.—The National Forest System Drug 10 Control Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 559b et seq.) is 11 amended— 12 (A) in section 15002(a) (16 U.S.C. 13 559b(a)) by striking ‘‘marijuana and other’’; 14 (B) in section 15003(2) (16 U.S.C. 15 559c(2)) by striking ‘‘marijuana and other’’; 16 and 17 (C) in section 15004(2) (16 U.S.C. 18 559d(2)) by striking ‘‘marijuana and other’’. 19 (2) INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS.—Sec- 20 tion 2516 of title 18, United States Code, is amend- 21 ed— 22 (A) in subsection (1)(e), by striking ‘‘, 23 marihuana,’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2649 IH (B) in subsection (2) by striking ‘‘mari- 1 huana’’. 2 SEC. 3. EQUITABLE LICENSING GRANT PROGRAM. 3 The Administrator of the Small Business Administra- 4 tion shall establish and carry out a grant program to be 5 known as the ‘‘Equitable Licensing Grant Program’’ to 6 provide eligible entities funds to develop and implement 7 equitable cannabis licensing programs that minimize bar- 8 riers to cannabis licensing and employment for individuals 9 most adversely impacted by the war on drugs, provided 10 that each grantee includes at least four of the six of the 11 following elements in its licensing program: 12 (1) A waiver of cannabis license application fees 13 for individuals most adversely impacted by the war 14 on drugs who are first-time applicants. 15 (2) A prohibition on the denial of a cannabis li- 16 cense based on a conviction of a cannabis-related of- 17 fense. 18 (3) A prohibition on criminal conviction restric- 19 tions for licensing except in instances where the con- 20 viction is relevant to owning and operating a busi- 21 ness. 22 (4) A prohibition on cannabis license holders 23 from engaging in suspicion less cannabis drug test- 24 ing of their prospective or current employees, except 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2649 IH in instances of drug testing for safety-sensitive posi- 1 tions as defined by the Omnibus Transportation 2 Employee Testing Act of 1991 (Public Law 102– 3 143). 4 (5) The establishment of a cannabis licensing 5 board, that is reflective of the racial, ethnic, eco- 6 nomic, and gender composition of the State or local- 7 ity, to serve as an oversight body of the equitable li- 8 censing program. 9 (6) The establishment of a grant program from 10 cannabis tax revenue to support non-profit commu- 11 nity-based organizations that provide business train- 12 ing and technical, management, and marketing as- 13 sistance to individuals most adversely impacted by 14 the war on drugs who are starting, sustaining, or ex- 15 panding a cannabis business. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2649.IH H2649 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS