Clearing N.J. marijuana convictions stalls again. Democrats now offering Murphy another expungement plan.

Those hoping to have their marijuana convictions cleared will have to keep waiting.

The state Senate did not vote on Gov. Phil Murphy’s changes to its expungement legislation on Thursday but instead introduced a new bill of its own.

Senators Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, and Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, along with Senate President Stephen Sweeney announced Thursday afternoon they had introduced new legislation to expand expungement. It proposes reforms to expungement eligibility and procedures for clearing marijuana and other qualified offenses.

Sweeney said Thursday afternoon the bill would head straight to the floor the next time the Senate convenes for a vote, rather than going through committee. That’s because it’s largely the same bill, aside from removing just a few words the governor suggested.

“We are offering a comprehensive expungement plan that builds on the proposal offered by Governor Murphy so that we can make reforms that will produce more fairness in the criminal justice system,” Sweeney said in a statement.

“I want to commend the Governor for the constructive ideas he incorporated into his conditional veto. We are improving on his plan to make sure the expungement program is more expansive and covers more people.” [Read more at NJ.com]