Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to repeal the Cole Memo last week is seeming like less and less of a threat to the cannabis industry after House representatives are finding other ways to replace the memo.

First cannabis entrepreneurs called Sessions’ order to repeal the Cole Memo a mere publicity stunt, and now California Rep. Barbara Lee introduced a new US House bill that would protect cannabis legal states from excessive federal enforcement–exactly what the Cole Memo was responsible for.

The Restraining Excessive Federal Enforcement & Regulations of Cannabis, or REFER act of 2018, would not affect the status of legalization of cannabis on the federal level. But if passed, it will surely protect cannabis-legal states that have adopted their own cannabis laws in the United States.

Specifically, the bill wants to limit federal agencies use of funds to: “detain, prosecute, sentence, or initiate civil proceedings against an individual, business or property, that is involved in the cultivation, distribution, possession, dispensation, or use of cannabis, in accordance with the law or regulation of the State or unit of local government in which the individual is located,” the bill drafted by Rep. Lee states.

While states where cannabis has been legal for social use for quite some time such as Washington and Colorado are lashing out at Sessions, other legal cannabis states like California, Massachusetts, and now medically-legal North Dakota have already began measures to protect their states from excessive federal enforcement.

It’s highly unclear if the REFER Act of 2018 will pass as of right now. Though, a different House bill, the Respect State Marijuana Laws act, has already acquired 13 sponsors after the repeal of the Cole Memo.

The repeal of the Cole Memo might not result in the outcome Attorney General Session had hoped for, as the threat might have fastened the spread of legalization instead of stopping it.

Since the repeal of the Cole Memo, state lawmakers have already started measures to legalize cannabis in New Jersey and Kentucky.