Marijuana Discrimination by Landlords (H 5437)

In February, the ACLU testified before the House Judiciary committee in opposition to a bill permitting landlords to refuse to rent to individuals based solely on their cultivation of medical marijuana.  Landlords have the right to take recourse against those individuals who are violating the terms of their lease or threatening the health or safety of other tenants, but the ACLU testified that retribution against tenants solely because of their medical cultivation activities raised a number of privacy and discrimination concerns.  The legislation did not move out of committee. Nor did an even more problematic bill sponsored by the Attorney General. In addition to a landlord discrimination clause, the bill would have allowed municipalities to pass zoning laws that would keep persons cultivating medical marijuana from living in residential areas.