Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3212 To provide that an individual who uses marijuana in compliance with State law may not be denied occupancy of federally assisted housing, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 13, 2021 Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To provide that an individual who uses marijuana in compli- ance with State law may not be denied occupancy of federally assisted housing, 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 ‘‘Marijuana in Federally 4 Assisted Housing Parity Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO UNITED STATES HOUSING ACT OF 6 1937. 7 The United States Housing Act of 1937 is amended 8 as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3212 IH (1) DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DE- 1 FINED.—In section 3(b)(9) (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(9)), 2 by inserting before the period at the end the fol- 3 lowing: ‘‘, except that such term shall not include 4 any such manufacture, sale, distribution, use, or 5 possession of marihuana (as such term is defined in 6 such section) that is in compliance with the law of 7 the State in which such manufacture, sale, distribu- 8 tion, use, or possession takes place’’. 9 (2) CURRENTLY ENGAGING IN THE ILLEGAL 10 USE OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE AND DRUG-RE- 11 LATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DEFINED.—In section 6 12 (42 U.S.C. 1437d)— 13 (A) in subsection (l), in the last sentence 14 after paragraph (9)— 15 (i) by striking ‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and 16 inserting ‘‘paragraph (6)’’; and 17 (ii) by inserting before the period at 18 the end the following: ‘‘, except that such 19 term shall not include any such manufac- 20 ture, sale, distribution, use, or possession 21 of marihuana (as such term is defined in 22 such section) that is in compliance with the 23 law of the State in which such manufac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3212 IH ture, sale, distribution, use, or possession 1 takes place’’; and 2 (B) in subsection (t)(7)(C), by inserting 3 before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 4 except that such term shall not include the use, 5 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of 6 marihuana (as such term is defined in section 7 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 8 U.S.C. 802)) that is in compliance with the law 9 of the State in which such use, distribution, 10 possession, sale, or manufacture takes place’’. 11 (3) DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DE- 12 FINED.—In section 8(f)(5) (42 U.S.C. 1437f(f)(5)), 13 by inserting before the period at the end the fol- 14 lowing: ‘‘, except that such term shall not include 15 any such manufacture, sale, distribution, use, or 16 possession of marihuana (as such term is defined in 17 such section) that is in compliance with the law of 18 the State in which such manufacture, sale, distribu- 19 tion, use, or possession takes place’’. 20 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO QUALITY HOUSING AND WORK 21 RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1998. 22 Subtitle F of title V of the Quality Housing and Work 23 Responsibility Act of 1998 is amended— 24 (1) in section 576 (42 U.S.C. 13661)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3212 IH (A) in subsection (b)— 1 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Not- 2 withstanding’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as 3 provided in paragraph (3) and notwith- 4 standing’’; 5 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting 6 ‘‘other than the use of marihuana de- 7 scribed in paragraph (3),’’ after ‘‘con- 8 trolled substance’’ each place such term 9 appears; and 10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing new paragraph: 12 ‘‘(3) STATE LAW EXCEPTION.—A public hous- 13 ing agency or an owner of federally assisted housing 14 may not establish standards prohibiting admission to 15 the program or federally assisted housing to any 16 household with a member who engages in the use, 17 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of 18 marihuana (as defined in section 102 of the Con- 19 trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) in compli- 20 ance with the law of the State in which such use, 21 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture takes 22 place.’’; and 23 (B) in subsection (c), by adding after and 24 below paragraph (2) the following flush matter: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3212 IH ‘‘For the purposes of this subsection, the term ‘criminal 1 activity’ shall not include the use, distribution, possession, 2 sale, or manufacture of marihuana (as such term is de- 3 fined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 4 U.S.C. 802)) that is in compliance with the law of the 5 State in which such use, distribution, possession, sale, or 6 manufacture takes place.’’; 7 (2) in section 577 (42 U.S.C. 13662), by add- 8 ing at the end the following new subsection: 9 ‘‘(c) STATE LAW EXCEPTION.—For the purposes of 10 this section, the term ‘illegal use of a controlled substance’ 11 shall not include the use, distribution, possession, sale, or 12 manufacture of marihuana (as defined in section 102 of 13 the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) that is 14 in compliance with the law of the State in which such use, 15 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture takes 16 place.’’; 17 (3) in section 579, by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing new paragraph: 19 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the sev- 20 eral States, the District of Columbia, the Common- 21 wealth of Puerto Rico, the territories and posses- 22 sions of the United States, and the Trust Territory 23 of the Pacific Islands.’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3212 IH (4) by adding at the end the following new sec- 1 tion: 2 ‘‘SEC. 580. ENFORCEMENT; SMOKE-FREE ZONES. 3 ‘‘(a) ENFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may not pro- 4 hibit or otherwise discourage any activity involving the 5 use, distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of mari- 6 huana in federally assisted housing that is in compliance 7 with the law of the State in which such activity takes 8 place. 9 ‘‘(b) HUD SMOKE-FREE ZONES.—Not later than 90 10 days after the date of the enactment of the Marijuana in 11 Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act of 2021, the Sec- 12 retary shall issue regulations that restrict smoking mari- 13 huana in federally assisted housing in the same manner 14 and same locations as the Secretary restricts smoking to- 15 bacco in public housing under subpart G of title 24, Code 16 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 17 ‘‘(c) MARIHUANA DEFINED.—In this section, the 18 term ‘marihuana’ has the meaning given such term in sec- 19 tion 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 20 802).’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS