Capitol View for September 25

Good morning. Six weeks until Election Day.

The change in legal status of marijuana apparently hasn’t led to wide use, if people are being frank with our pollster. Respondents were asked if they had consumed cannabis or THC-infused hemp products recently and about 14 percent said they had. Of course, full-fledged marijuana isn’t widely available yet in retail settings. So people are left to grow-your-own, cannabis sold by tribal communities and more illicitly-obtained marijuana. THC hemp products, such as seltzers and gummies, are showing up in more places. People polled were also asked if they favor legal marijuana for adults nationwide, and 61 percent said they do. Democrats and independents were more likely to support legalization in the poll. More here from our Mathew Holding Eagle III.

Gov. Tim Walz plans to stick with a temporary director at the Office of Cannabis Management for longer — a full year after a person picked to run it abruptly resigned. The goal had been to get a new Office of Cannabis Management executive director in place by spring or summer of this year. It’s now fall. Gov. Tim Walz first chose a hemp business owner to run the regulatory division. But she resigned after one day when questions over the products at her shop and problems in her business record came to light. The state tried to attract more candidates by upping the salary range, but so far there is no sign that an announcement is imminent. In the meantime, interim director Charlene Briner remains in place; she has said she doesn’t want the full-time role. A spokesperson for Walz said Briner will be around for a while longer: “Under Charlene’s leadership, the Office of Cannabis Management has made significant progress over the last year preparing for and implementing the launch of a cannabis marketplace in Minnesota. This is a critical period of time for the office, and Charlene is best positioned to lead. We have made a choice not to disrupt the work in progress by changing leadership at this time.”

Medical cannabis users want to be able to sell excess marijuana, but a judge ruled the case is premature. MinnPost’s Peter Callaghan reports the Ramsey County judge dismissed the case brought by three medical cannabis patients and one non-medical cannabis user who are legally growing up to eight cannabis plants at home because the Office of Cannabis Management is still in the rulemaking process. The group of four argued that a provision in the State Constitution (adopted 120 years ago) blocks the state from requiring them to be licensed to sell excess marijuana. It’s possible that once the Office of Cannabis Management unveils rules, it could be perfectly legal for home growers to sell excess marijuana without a license, making the legal challenge unnecessary.

In his final address to the United Nations as a sitting president, Joe Biden urged the world to unite and declared peace is still possible in conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. The wide-ranging speech was one of Biden’s last high-profile opportunities as president to urge continued support to Ukraine, which could be in doubt if former President Donald Trump wins in November. Biden spoke to the need to end the Middle East conflict and the civil war in Sudan, while also touting his work in keeping his campaign promises to withdraw forces from Afghanistan. But his foreign policy legacy may ultimately be shaped by his administration’s response to two of the biggest conflicts in the Middle East and Europe since World War II.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio she supports an elimination of the filibuster to restore abortion rights. Eliminating the filibuster would allow the U.S. Senate to pass some legislation with a simple majority of 51 votes rather than meeting a 60-vote threshold. In the past, Harris has supported ending the filibuster to protect reproductive rights, voting rights and the Green New Deal, but she hasn’t broached the topic of eliminating the filibuster since she began her bid for the presidency. Her comments cost her an endorsement from leading Senate moderate Joe Manchin. He told CNN on Tuesday that he would no longer consider backing her candidacy, despite signaling earlier this month that he was getting ready to do so. Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema also criticized Harris, posting on X, “Eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade also enables a future Congress to ban all abortion nationwide.”

Later this morning, a new round of state campaign finance reports will be made public by a state regulatory board, giving us a good feel where groups and the parties feel the race for legislative control will be fought. Ahead of that, the two House political caucuses released their figures. The House DFL Caucus said it has had a record cycle and came into the stretch run with $3.546 million in the bank — almost double what was available at this stage two years ago. The House Republican Campaign Committee also said it set a record with its haul and entered this last phase with $1.634 million available to spend. Party funds and outside groups have greater ability to pull in big donations and spend money in each of the 134 races than candidates themselves. You can find the reports here starting at 8 a.m.