Colorado legislature votes to tax recreational marijuana

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - The Colorado legislature passed and sent to the governor on Wednesday a bill to establish what would be the first tax ever collected on commercial sales of marijuana purchased for recreational use in the United States.

The measure, which would impose a 15 percent excise tax plus a 10 percent statewide sales tax on retail pot purchases, was approved as package of measures to implement Colorado's landmark marijuana legalization law enacted by voters last fall.

Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper was expected to sign the legislation.

But the tax, seen as necessary to support the larger regulatory framework of the system, would then be subject to a ballot referendum under a Colorado law requiring all new taxes to be approved directly by voters.

In November, voters passed a constitutional amendment making Colorado one of just two states - the other was Washington - legalizing possession, cultivation and use of marijuana by adults for recreational purposes for the first time.

In Colorado, 53 percent of the voters supported legalization of pot, versus 47 percent who opposed it.

The outcomes in Colorado and Washington, already among nearly 20 states with laws on the books legalizing marijuana for medical use, put both states in further conflict with the federal government, which classifies cannabis as an illegal narcotic.

Under Colorado's new marijuana law, personnel possession of up to an ounce (28.5 grams) of marijuana is legal for anyone at least 21 years of age. Personal cultivation of cannabis is limited to six plants per person.

The statute also called for cannabis to be legally sold and taxed at private, state-licensed stores modeled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales.

Implementing legislation passed on Wednesday would give private dispensaries already in operation for distribution of medical marijuana first crack at the new retail sales licenses.

Washington state's voter-approved marijuana measure came with a built-in taxing scheme that will not be put into effect until the larger regulatory system is devised by that state's Liquor Control Board.

Approval of the tax and regulatory package in Colorado by the state House of Representatives and state Senate, both controlled by Democrats, came on the final day of the legislative session in Denver.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

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Boehner Uncommitted to Gun Votes in House

After the U.S. Senate voted down a slate of proposals to toughen the country's gun laws Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner today was non-committal on the prospect of considering similar measures in the House of Representatives. Still, the speaker maintained that the Republican-controlled committees of jurisdiction in the House will continue examining mental health and gun violence.

RELATED: Newtown Families: Gun Push Isn't Over

"Our committees continue to work at this," Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "No decision has been made beyond that."

When he was asked whether he will expedite consideration of a bill or follow regular order, in which a bill starts at the committee level, and, separately, whether he believes there should be a political price to pay for lawmakers who oppose stronger gun legislation, the speaker's tone carried a lack of urgency.

RELATED: 'Round One' Or A Knockout To Obama's Gun Agenda?

"Our committees are going to continue to look at the violence in our society and look at these tragedies and determine whether there are common-sense steps that we can take to reduce the chances of this," Boehner said. "The relevant committees are working on this issue. I'm going to continue to work with them, and when we have a decision to announce, we'll announce it."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats are "so disappointed" by the Senate's failed efforts, but she said she will continue fighting for stronger gun measures.

"Something must be done, because that's what the American people expect and what they deserve," Pelosi, D-Calif., said. "What we want also is a vote. The American people can say to the leadership in the Congress, to the speaker of the House, give us a vote. Give us a vote in the House."

RELATED: Mark Kelly on Gun Vote: 'Gabby Is Angry Today'

Boehner has long maintained that he would wait until the Senate actually passes legislation - not simply takes votes on gun measures - before he considers any gun-related legislation on the House floor.

Today, despite the actuality of the Senate's failed votes, Pelosi urged Boehner to take up legislation without delay.

"If he was waiting for the Senate to act and now he feels he's - doesn't have any work to do, well, then that just says we're not the legislative branch," Pelosi said. "We're the first branch of government, the legislative branch. It is our responsibility to legislate, and we have our responsibility in the House to do that."

Rep. Mike Thompson, the chairman of the Democratic Task Force to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the failed vote in the Senate was "unexplainable," but is "not going to slow us or deter our work in regard to gun violence prevention."

"Every time I get in the car, the Garmin says, 'recalculating, recalculating,'" Thompson, D-Calif., joked. "We'll recalculate and get our bearing, and we're going to go forward on this. The American people want their Congress to take action to make their communities, their neighborhoods, their workplace and their schools safer, and we can do that while protecting the Second Amendment."

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Senate backers of expanded gun background checks scramble for votes

By David Lawder and John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan proposal to expand background checks for gun buyers appeared on Tuesday to be short of the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate, as supporters scrambled to save the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to reduce gun violence.

But Senate leaders scheduled a Wednesday vote for the expanded background checks plan forged by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, along with eight other amendments ranging from banning assault weapons to expanding permission to carry concealed firearms.

The proposals need 60 votes to overcome procedural hurdles erected by Republican opponents in the 100-seat Senate, where Democrats control 55 seats.

With several Democrats from conservative, gun-friendly states possibly voting against the measure, supporters have been hunting for more Republican support, which has proven elusive.

"It's going to be close," a senior Senate Democratic aide said of the vote scheduled for around 4 p.m. (2000 GMT).

Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who opposes the proposal, told reporters that its supporters "don't have the votes to pass it."

He intends to offer a substitute amendment on Wednesday and argued that the Manchin-Toomey plan would not have stopped the December massacre of 20 school children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut, or other mass shootings.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid rejected the idea that the background checks amendment had lost momentum since it was announced last week and was headed to defeat.

"Am I saying it's all over with, done, we've got the votes? No. But we certainly feel we have the wind at our back," Reid told reporters.

The Manchin-Toomey amendment to extend criminal background checks to online and gun-show sales has been seen as Obama's best hope for meaningful gun-control legislation in response to the Newtown shootings.

Opinion polls show more than 80 percent of Americans favor expanded background checks, but the amendment is opposed by the National Rifle Association gun lobby and most Republicans in the Democrat-led Senate. Even if it clears the Senate, it would face a rough ride in the Republican-led House of Representatives.

The NRA has warned lawmakers it will include their vote in the ratings it compiles on them and sends to its 4 million members. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a gun-control group backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has also said it will rate members of Congress based on their votes.

Former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, severely wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona, urged Senate Democrats to pass the measure during an appearance at their weekly luncheon.

Reid said Manchin also made a "moving, tearful" presentation at the luncheon.

"We are optimistic that this can pass," Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, told reporters after the meeting. "It's going to take a little work. That's why Gabby and I are here."

RURAL STATE COMPROMISE?

Administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, have helped Manchin and Toomey lobby senators.

Relatives of Newtown victims also visited Washington last week and held emotional meetings with lawmakers in which they urged them to support expanded background checks and other measures.

Among Republicans, only Toomey, Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois have committed to support the Senate proposal. John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said on Sunday he was "favorably disposed" to it.

Several Democratic senators from states where hunting and guns are popular - including Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana - remain uncommitted.

Democrats have explored changes to the background checks deal to allow exemptions in rural areas that do not have federally licensed gun dealers. The compromise would be aimed at winning senators from rural states such as Heitkamp and Begich.

"It's something we're looking at," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York told reporters. "I never let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

But Republican opponents were increasingly confident they would win any showdown vote on the background checks.

"I don't think Toomey-Manchin is going to fly. I don't know where (they are) going to get the votes," Republican Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska told reporters, adding that the entire gun bill was in "serious trouble."

'NEW OBLIGATIONS' ON GUN OWNERS?

Whatever is eventually agreed to appears likely to fall far short of what Obama sought immediately after the Newtown shootings. The bill also includes tighter restrictions on gun trafficking and more funding for school security.

Amendments to add restrictions such as a ban on the sale of rapid-firing "assault" weapons like the one used in Newtown and limits on the capacity of ammunition magazines appear to have little chance for approval.

Opponents of the Manchin-Toomey plan and some other elements of the legislation say the proposals are an example of government overreach that would infringe on the constitutional right to bear arms.

"Manchin-Toomey would impose new obligations on law-abiding gun owners," Grassley said.

Manchin and Toomey, both conservatives and strong proponents of gun rights, have argued that their proposal would simply make it more difficult for criminals and the mentally ill to buy guns.

Their amendment includes sweeteners for gun-rights supporters, including a provision that would make licensed interstate sales easier and ban the creation of a gun registry, one of the frequent fears cited by groups such as the NRA.

(Editing by David Lindsey, David Brunnstrom and Paul Simao)

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Senate Sets Up Big Votes Wednesday for Gun Control

ABC News' Sunlen Miller and Jeff Zeleny report:

The day of reckoning is Wednesday for the embattled Manchin-Toomey background check provision and a myriad of other gun amendments, including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity clips.

The outcome of which will determine the fate of the biggest gun control legislation the Senate will vote on in two decades.

A 4 p.m. vote on the Manchin-Toomey amendment will kick off the votes.

The amendment, proposed this past week as a bipartisan compromise from Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, always faced an uphill climb to pass in the Senate.

But the first real signs of trouble came Monday when a vote on the amendment was delayed from being formally scheduled when it was clear that the votes were not yet there for it to pass. By Tuesday, momentum seemed to slip away bit-by-bit when a few senators key to the outcome of the vote, including Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., announced that they could not vote for the bill.

The amendment will need 60 votes to pass. And as of tonight, the votes are not there yet.

When Manchin was asked by ABC News if he had 60 votes locked down, he said: "We need more than we have."

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, one of the Republican supporters for expanding background checks, said he was still working to win over some Republican senators. When asked if his side had enough votes to pass the amendment, he said: "We are not ready for a vote."

The vote will be razor thin - so thin that neither side was sounding confident.

There are three Republican senators and four Democratic senators believed still undecided - John McCain, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Mary Landrieu, D-La., Mark Begich D-Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., was seen as a wild card because, although he supports the amendment, he has been ill and home in New Jersey. Aides said Lautenberg "hopes" to get back for the vote Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sounded a bit resigned Tuesday when he defended the bill's momentum while, in the same breath, admitting that the votes may not be there. Regardless, he said, gun control supporters have the "wind at our back."

President Obama made calls to the few undecided senators Tuesday, ABC News' Jonathan Karl reported. A White House official said there still was a path to 60 votes but conceded it is "a narrow path."

Yet the situation remained fluid, Republican and Democratic aides told ABC News, and either outcome was possible when the voting was to begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Following the Manchin-Toomey amendment vote, the Senate will vote on at least eight other gun amendments, all of which matter to the debate. They included voting up or down on an assault weapons ban, the issue of concealed carry, a high-capacity clip ban and mental health provisions.

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Senate to cast first gun-control votes on Thursday

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of one of President Barack Obama's key gun-control proposals appeared on Monday night to be in the hands of two senators: one Democrat, the other Republican, both of them longtime opponents of restrictions on guns.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania are seeking a compromise on expanding background checks for prospective gun buyers. The proposal appears to be Obama's best hope for meaningful gun-control legislation in the wake of the December massacre of 20 children and six adults at a school in Connecticut, where the president spoke Monday evening to a crowd that included some victims' families.

If Manchin and Toomey can't strike a deal, Obama's calls to require nearly all gun buyers to submit to background checks for criminal records and mental health problems likely will fail, Senate aides said on Monday.

Another centerpiece of Obama's efforts, a renewal of a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, appears unlikely to be approved, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. A proposed 10-bullet limit on ammunition magazines also appears to be in trouble, he has said.

Obama, who has called the day of the Newtown massacre the worst of his presidency, made a strong appeal on Monday for action in Congress.

But at this point, Senate aides said, there seems to be strong, bipartisan support for only two of Obama's proposals: a crackdown on gun trafficking and improvements to security at schools.

The talks between Manchin and Toomey - both allies of the National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun-rights group - symbolize why the background checks proposal is not a sure thing in Congress, even though polls have indicated that it is backed by 80 to 90 percent of Americans.

Toomey is pushing for expanded background checks even as 13 conservative Republican senators are threatening a filibuster to delay votes on any gun-control bills.

And Manchin represents how Democrats' move in recent years to embrace candidates who strongly support gun rights is complicating the Democratic president's push for gun restrictions.

Manchin is among eight Senate Democrats rated as friendly to gun rights by the NRA to have joined the chamber since 2006.

That was when the Democratic officials - fed up with losing congressional races to Republicans in rural and conservative states such as Montana, Virginia, North Carolina, Alaska and West Virginia - stepped up its recruiting of pro-gun candidates.

The strategy worked.

Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 2006 and increased their majorities in 2008, when Obama captured the White House.

The House fell back to Republicans in 2010, but not before conservative Democrats such as Manchin helped Obama get his healthcare overhaul through Congress.

But now, those conservative Democrats have become speed bumps for several of Obama's gun-control proposals - particularly his call to ban assault weapons, which both sides see as unlikely to pass even the Senate, where Democrats control 55 of the 100 seats.

On expanding background checks, "Manchin is upbeat about their chances of success," said one Senate aide, who offered an assessment of her own: "50-50."

SEEING A 'SLIPPERY SLOPE'

Reid, who schedules floor votes in the Senate, had planned to begin consideration of gun legislation this week. But that timetable could be pushed to next week to give Manchin and Toomey more time to negotiate, or if Republicans try to delay action, aides said.

Even the gun trafficking plan, which would make it a federal crime for someone banned from having a firearm to buy one, could face problems. The NRA is seeking to revise it in a way that critics say would make it difficult to enforce.

Obama's call to ban rapid-firing assault weapons - a pet cause of Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat - has gone nowhere in part because even those in Feinstein's party are not solidly behind it.

Several Democrats who have joined the Senate since 2006 have said they could not vote for Feinstein's plan.

They include Manchin, Mark Begich of Alaska and Jon Tester of Montana, a gun-rights Democrat and farmer who won a Senate seat in 2006 by unseating a three-term Republican.

Tester said he sees an assault weapons ban as "a slippery slope" that could lead to other restrictions on gun ownership. He said he favors stepping up efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

"That would be the smart thing to do," Tester said.

Begich, another Democrat rated as a friend on Capitol Hill by the NRA, ousted a six-term Republican when he was elected in 2008. Begich is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill to clarify when a person loses the right to possess a firearm based on mental illness.

Critics of the bill, which is backed by the NRA, say the measure could make firearms more accessible to the mentally ill.

Manchin, elected to the Senate in 2010, has been trying for months to find a way to expand background checks while addressing gun-rights' advocates concerns that such checks could be used to create registries of gun owners. Gun rights advocates say the government could use such registries to confiscate weapons.

"I think everyone wants to do something that is right and responsible," Manchin said. "I really do."

A POLITICAL CALCULATION

Few Democrats regret the party's decision to recruit gun-rights candidates in recent years.

If senators such as Tester and Begich had not won their seats, many Democrats figure, the seats would be held by pro-gun Republicans - and many of Obama's legislative accomplishments, including the healthcare overhaul and new regulations on Wall Street, would not have happened.

"The profile of the guy who can win in these states is the profile of a guy who is pro-gun," said Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Larry Sabato, who tracks congressional races as head of University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said that in 2006, "Democrats made a practical decision ... to win rather, than to be (ideologically) pure."

Sabato said he now sees some Republicans similarly bending their stances on some issues to try to appeal to more voters, such as easing their opposition to gay marriage and tax increases.

(Editing by David Lindsey and Lisa Shumaker)

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