In what was described as a 180-degree change from the prior administration, Gov. Tom Wolf Tuesday told legislators and families supporting the legalization of medical marijuana he would sign such legislation if it got to his desk.

“I believe that doctors should have the ability and the right to prescribe the drugs they understand and makes the most sense for their patients,” he said. “No Pennsylvanian should suffer needlessly when we have the ability to treat them.”

The bill, currently in the form of Senate Bill 3, is largely the same product that passed the Senate last year by a 43-7 vote.

During a Tuesday morning press conference, Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) and Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) discuss the benefits of their reintroduced medical marijuana bill, SB 3. 

Taking a decidedly different tone from House Republican leadership last session, new House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R-Indiana) said he was supportive of the concept to legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania during Monday’s press club luncheon.

“I do support the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania,” he said. “I am hopeful we can get to a situation where we can negotiate a product in the House with a product in the Senate that the governor is willing to accept and sign into law.”

In the latest in the saga over Gov. Tom Wolf’s firing of current/former Office of Open Records executive director Erik Arneson saw the Senate Republican Caucus file a lawsuit on his behalf Monday afternoon.

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment for the caucus as to Arneson’s status and seeks to have the court use its powers of injunctive relief to place Arneson back at OOR’s helm.

In making their argument, the Senate Republicans offer that the OOR’s executive director is not subject to the governor’s at-will removal given the independent nature of the office and the quasi-judicial function of the office, both of which they claim courts have found act as checks on the governor’s authority to remove appointees. 

House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R-Indiana) struck a tone of bipartisanship at Monday’s Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon where he outlined his caucus’s legislative priorities, noting they broadly align with Gov. Tom Wolf’s as announced at his inaugural addressed.

While he said his caucus agrees economic, education, and government reform are a priority, Rep. Reed noted there may be a difference as to how to achieve the broad-based policy goals on which many—if not all—agree Pennsylvania needs to tackle.