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In case you missed the news:
Late yesterday evening, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 1449, a bill sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno that downgrades the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction. This will spare petty marijuana offenders the necessity of a court appearance and criminal arrest record while saving the state millions of dollars in court and prosecution expenses.
In explaining his decision, the Governor hit the nail on the head: "In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources" prosecuting marijuana possession.
This is probably an attempt to have people think "well now that it's an infraction, I don't need to vote on Prop19" ...
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