I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2338 

To provide that an individual who uses marijuana in compliance with State 

law may not be denied occupancy of federally assisted housing, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2019 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide that an individual who uses marijuana in compliance with State law may not be denied occupancy of 

federally assisted housing, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marijuana in Federally 

5 Assisted Housing Parity Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO UNITED STATES HOUSING ACT OF 

7 1937. 

8 The United States Housing Act of 1937 is amended 

9 as follows: 


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1 (1) DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DE2 FINED.—In section 3(b)(9) (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(9)), 

3 by inserting before the period at the end the fol4 lowing: ‘‘, except that such term shall not include 

5 any such manufacture, sale, distribution, use, or 

6 possession of marihuana (as such term is defined in 

7 such section) that is in compliance with the law of 

8 the State in which such manufacture, sale, distribu9 tion, use, or possession takes place’’. 

10 (2) CURRENTLY ENGAGING IN THE ILLEGAL

11 USE OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE AND DRUG-RE12 LATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DEFINED.—In section 6 

13 (42 U.S.C. 1437d)— 

14 (A) in subsection (l), in the last sentence 

15 after paragraph (9)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘paragraph (6)’’; and 

18 (ii) by inserting before the period at 

19 the end the following: ‘‘, except that such 

20 term shall not include any such manufac21 ture, sale, distribution, use, or possession 

22 of marihuana (as such term is defined in 

23 such section) that is in compliance with the 

24 law of the State in which such manufacVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2338.IH H2338

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1 ture, sale, distribution, use, or possession 

2 takes place’’; and 

3 (B) in subsection (t)(7)(C), by inserting 

4 before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 

5 except that such term shall not include the use, 

6 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of 

7 marihuana (as such term is defined in section 

8 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

9 U.S.C. 802)) that is in compliance with the law 

10 of the State in which such use, distribution, 

11 possession, sale, or manufacture takes place’’. 

12 (3) DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY DE13 FINED.—In section 8(f)(5) (42 U.S.C. 1437f(f)(5)), 

14 by inserting before the period at the end the fol15 lowing: ‘‘, except that such term shall not include 

16 any such manufacture, sale, distribution, use, or 

17 possession of marihuana (as such term is defined in 

18 such section) that is in compliance with the law of 

19 the State in which such manufacture, sale, distribu20 tion, use, or possession takes place’’. 

21 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO QUALITY HOUSING AND WORK 

22 RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1998. 

23 Subtitle F of title V of the Quality Housing and Work 

24 Responsibility Act of 1998 is amended— 

25 (1) in section 576 (42 U.S.C. 13661)— 


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1 (A) in subsection (b)— 

2 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Not3 withstanding’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as 

4 provided in paragraph (3) and notwith5 standing’’; 

6 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting 

7 ‘‘other than the use of marihuana de8 scribed in paragraph (3),’’ after ‘‘con9 trolled substance’’ each place such term 

10 appears; and 

11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol12 lowing new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(3) STATE LAW EXCEPTION.—A public hous14 ing agency or an owner of federally assisted housing 

15 may not establish standards prohibiting admission to 

16 the program or federally assisted housing to any 

17 household with a member who engages in the use, 

18 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of 

19 marihuana (as defined in section 102 of the Con20 trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) in compli21 ance with the law of the State in which such use, 

22 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture takes 

23 place.’’; and 

24 (B) in subsection (c), by adding after and 

25 below paragraph (2) the following flush matter: 


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1 ‘‘For the purposes of this subsection, the term ‘criminal 

2 activity’ shall not include the use, distribution, possession, 

3 sale, or manufacture of marihuana (as such term is de4 fined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

5 U.S.C. 802)) that is in compliance with the law of the 

6 State in which such use, distribution, possession, sale, or 

7 manufacture takes place.’’; 

8 (2) in section 577 (42 U.S.C. 13662), by add9 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(c) STATE LAW EXCEPTION.—For the purposes of 

11 this section, the term ‘illegal use of a controlled substance’ 

12 shall not include the use, distribution, possession, sale, or 

13 manufacture of marihuana (as defined in section 102 of 

14 the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) that is 

15 in compliance with the law of the State in which such use, 

16 distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture takes 

17 place.’’; 

18 (3) in section 579, by adding at the end the fol19 lowing new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the sev21 eral States, the District of Columbia, the Common22 wealth of Puerto Rico, the territories and posses23 sions of the United States, and the Trust Territory 

24 of the Pacific Islands.’’; and 


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1 (4) by adding at the end the following new sec2 tion: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 580. ENFORCEMENT; SMOKE-FREE ZONES. 

4 ‘‘(a) ENFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may not pro5 hibit or otherwise discourage any activity involving the 

6 use, distribution, possession, sale, or manufacture of mari7 huana in federally assisted housing that is in compliance 

8 with the law of the State in which such activity takes 

9 place. 

10 ‘‘(b) HUD SMOKE-FREE ZONES.—Not later than 90 

11 days after the date of the enactment of the Marijuana in 

12 Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act of 2019, the Sec13 retary shall issue regulations that restrict smoking mari14 huana in federally assisted housing in the same manner 

15 and same locations as the Secretary restricts smoking to16 bacco in public housing under subpart G of title 24, Code 

17 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 

18 ‘‘(c) MARIHUANA DEFINED.—In this section, the 

19 term ‘marihuana’ has the meaning given such term in sec20 tion 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 

21 802).’’. 

Æ 


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