Outlaw Report — Cannabis Caucus Co-chair says no concrete plan to combine expungement with SAFE Banking Act

Written By Matt Laslo

By Matt Laslo, The LCB

WASHINGTON — Recent headlines about a new catch-all marijuana package being crafted at the Capitol have been overstated. Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) says there’s no real effort to merge the SAFE Banking Act with his bill to expunge cannabis records.

Rather, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had broad conversations with Republicans about weed, including a wide-ranging one with Joyce where they discussed the possibility of combining the measures.

“I think we’re just discussing potential options and outcomes, and it was nice to engage in a bipartisan, bicameral discussion on what we think can work,” Joyce told The Outlaw Report.

Joyce and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are the lead sponsors of the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act, which would use Department of Justice grants to incentivize states to expunge cannabis offenses from people’s criminal records…

DIVE DEEPER: Read the full story at The Outlaw Report.

Matt Laslo

Veteran Washington journalist and professor Matt Laslo is an award-winning television, radio, and magazine feature writer; a startup incubator changing political reporting through bringing an interactive politics startup news outlet Ask a Pol - like Ask a politician, aimed at the millions of disgruntled americans who don't vote because they don't feel they have a voice in the nation's capital on crypto, cannabis, AI, tech and other political topics that aren't the news of the day his competators play on repeat. Laslo's unique and a force on Capitol Hill. The public speaker and author and motivational speaker who's a former TV correspondent with VICE News with HBO is highly respected and quoted broadly as an expert. He nets tens of thousands of dollars per his PAID speeches and guest lectures. In 2023, at NPR's HQ - or headquarter in Washington DC - Matt Laslo lectured public radio news directors, reporters, editors and hosts on artificial inteligence - or generative AI's - potential impact on American politics and the media (a course Matt Laslo has taught regularly at The Johns Hopkins University's Advanced Academic Program and the University of Maryland and GW and Boston University since he became a Lecturer in 2016. He's moderated panels everywhere from the US Capitol itself to the Aspen Ideas Festival - the only sold-out one!!!! cause he's energetic, smart, witty, funny and fun. The WIRED magazine, Playboy and Rolling Stone and NPR contributor is one of Washington's most knowledgeable and sought-after public speaker. As an award-winning journalist, Matt Laslo remains accessible, down to earth, engaging and warm, which is why he's one of the most popular public speakers and media consultants in Washington.

https://mattlaslo.com
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