It's been a busy and productive week in state legislatures for marijuana reform. Just yesterday:

• New Hampshire: The Senate voted 14 to 10 yesterday in favor of HB 648, which would allow qualified patients to possess up to two ounces of cannabis and/or six plants for medical purposes.

• Minnesota: Members of the State Senate gave preliminary approval to Senate File 97, an act to exempt qualified medical cannabis patients from state arrest and prosecution.

• Rhode Island: Members of the Rhode Island Senate voted 35 to 2 yesterday in favor of SB 185, an act to allow for the distribution of medical cannabis by state-licensed compassion centers.

• Pennsylvania: Rep. Mark Cohen D-Philadelphia), along with six co-sponsors, introduced legislation to make Pennsylvania the fourteenth state to legalize the physician-supervised use of cannabis.

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For the reasons expressed here, I'm disappointed to report that the Hate Crimes Law has passed the House. It's H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

As if murder doesn't already carry life in prison? As if assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, using a bomb or firearm in commission of a crime don't already carry stiff sentences?

At least the bill stops short of authorizing a penalty of life plus cancer.[More..]

Update: Here is the letter 75 organizations and law professors sent to the Senate urging the complete elimination of the disparity.

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As I wrote here, this is a bill we need. It now has 23 sponsors in the House. It would end mandatory minimums in all drug cases.

Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 - Requires the Attorney General's prior written approval for a federal prosecution of an offense under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) or the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (CSIEA), or for any conspiracy to commit such an offense, where the offense involves the illegal distribution or possession of a controlled substance in an amount less than that specified as a minimum for an offense under CSA or, in the case of any substance containing cocaine or cocaine base, in an amount less than 500 grams.

Modifies CSA (Controlled Substances Act)and CSIEA to delete specified mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment.

A bill that would overhaul Colorado's sentencing laws to reduce or eliminate prison terms for non-violent offenders was introduced yesterday by State Senators Morgan Carroll and John Morse. The full text of the bill is here (pdf.)

A bill introduced yesterday by Sens. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, takes a sweeping approach to sentencing reform by aiming to lower the degree and penalty of most non-violent crimes.

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With a high profile trans-gender murder trial beginning tomorrow in Colorado, liberal groups are up in arms trying to use it as a stepping stone for the enactment of a federal hate crimes law.

Just say No. I've been saying no on this since 2000 when I wrote an article I've since summarized on TalkLeft over the years here,here, here and here. My conclusion:

Crimes committed out of hatred or bigotry toward the characteristics of any individual or group cannot be tolerated. They must be condemned in the strongest possible language. Law enforcement must be encouraged to prosecute such crimes to the fullest extent of our criminal laws. Yet, whether we should enact more criminal laws with stiffer penalties and which would authorize greater intrusion into our constitutionally protected areas of free speech, free thought, free association, and personal privacy, is a matter that should be studied carefully and thoroughly before any action is taken.

On December 31, three provisions of the Patriot Act are scheduled to sunset. This week, Reps. Jerome Nadler and Jeff Flake introduced reform legislation to curb the excesses of the provision affecting national security letters.

NSLs are secret subpoenas used to demand personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit companies without prior court approval.

The ACLU has released a report, Reclaiming Patriotism. On National security letters, it writes: [More...]

A police procedural reform, long advocated by TalkLeft and by a variety of organizations and concerned citizens who want to reduce the risk of mistaken accusations and convictions, continues to gain steam. The Judiciary Committee of Connecticut's General Assembly is considering a bill that would render confessions obtained in a custodial interrogation presumptively inadmissible as evidence unless the interrogation has been electronically recorded. The bill should gain support in light of a court decision that granted a new trial to a mentally disabled man whose unrecorded confession became the most powerful evidence in a murder prosecution that lacked physical evidence tying the man to the crime.

In the 1992 trial, there was no expert witness to explain the manipulative methods that detectives use to wheedle confessions. [Richard] Lapointe's attorneys were overly confident that the jurors would acquit after seeing him on the witness stand revealing his vulnerability to suggestion and his child-like desire to please authority figures.

TalkLeft wrote about the Lapointe case here. [more ...]

As Jeralyn discussed Thursday, an agreement between the New York legislature and Gov. David Paterson will finally reform the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws. At the time of Jeralyn's post, the relief that the legislation would provide to drug offenders currently serving sentences was unclear.

Although some language in the new law is still being negotiated, the governor announced yesterday that the legislation will enable hundreds of prisoners to seek resentencing. It appears that the resentencing options include treatment in lieu of continued incarceration.

Prosecutors -- who will lose the power they now hold to decide whether a drug offender will receive a lengthy sentence by charging crimes that have mandatory minimums -- are complaining that judges shouldn't have the option of sending repeat offenders to treatment instead of incarcerating them. [more ...]

Via FAMM, Rep. Maxine Waters has introduced a bill to end mandatory minimum sentencing in all drug cases. The bill has 15 co-sponsors.

H.R. 1466, the Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009, seeks to repeal mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and to give courts the ability to determine sentences based on all the facts, not just drug weight. It would also refocus federal resources on major drug traffickers instead of low-level offenders. There is currently no companion bill in the Senate.

The full text of the bill is here. We need a Senator to step up to the plate. Ideas? [More...]

Provisions of the Patriot Act will be coming up for renewal in December. The ACLU has been busy meeting with members of Congress and compiling data. Today they released a new report, "Reclaiming Patriotism" which catalogs the abuses during the past eight years. The report is available here (pdf.)

From the gagging of our nation’s librarians under the national security letter statute to the gutting of time-honored surveillance laws, the Patriot Act has been disastrous for Americans’ rights,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “In the panic following the events of 9/11, our nation’s lawmakers hastily expanded the government’s authority to a dangerous level and opened a Pandora’s box of surveillance.”

Check out their new site, Reform the Patriot Act. [More...]

Senate Republicans last night stalled the passage of the Omnibus Appropriations Act.

Senate Republicans, demanding the right to try to change a huge spending bill, forced Democrats on Thursday night to put off a final vote on the measure until next week. The surprise development will force Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill to avoid a partial shutdown of the government.

...Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., canceled the vote, saying he was one vote short of the 60 needed to close debate and free the bill for President Barack Obama's signature.

The Republicans insisted on voting on their amendments, all of which were expected to fail. Thanks to the Senate's Twitter page, you can view the votes. And here at GovTrack, you can click through to the Amendments. [More...]

Will New York's legislature finally do away with the obnoxious Rockefeller drug laws?

The Rockefeller laws tied the hands of judges by requiring lengthy prison terms even for first-time offenders. Essentially, the law allowed prosecutors to decide who went to jail and for how long. The system, which has been imitated throughout the country, filled the jails to bursting, while doing nothing to curb the drug trade. The law has been especially disastrous for black and Latino offenders, who represent the overwhelming majority of those held in state prison for drug offenses.

This editorial quotes with approval Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, who criticized a state commission that studied reform. The commission was loaded with prosecutors who, unsurprisingly, wanted to keep power in their own hands rather than returning sentencing discretion to judges.