More than a dozen states across the U.S. have already legalized marijuana sales, and later this fall lawmakers in D.C. will start debating whether to join that group.

The D.C. Council has scheduled a public hearing on Nov. 19 to consider legislation from Chairman Phil Mendelson that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, alongside a separate measure from Mayor Muriel Bowser that would make a number of significant changes to the existing medical marijuana program.

The hearing comes as D.C. officials await a more significant development from Capitol Hill, which has so far stymied any local attempts to legalize marijuana sales. Over the summer House Democrats managed to remove a six-year-old congressional prohibition on D.C. moving forward on legalizing sales. But any final vote on scrapping what’s known as the Harris Rider — after its author, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) — is likely to be delayed until later this year, largely because of the broader fighting on Capitol Hill around federal spending. (A group of marijuana advocates are protesting outside Congress today, demanding federal action to legalize marijuana and lift the rider on D.C.)

Still, even scheduling a hearing to consider the bill is notable — in past years, Attorney General Karl Racine warned city lawmakers that the congressional ban even covered the simple act of holding a public debate on the idea. That changed earlier this year, when the U.S. Government Accountability Office, responding to a query from Harris, opined that the council could legally debate and even pass a bill legalizing marijuana sales; the congressional ban would only stop Bowser from actually signing any bill into law.

During November’s hearing, it’s likely that lawmakers will focus less on whether to legalize marijuana sales than on how the city should go about doing it. Responding to concerns raised from residents in states where sales are legal, Mendelson’s bill focuses on allowing people disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs — in D.C., that’s largely been Black residents — to take part in what could be a lucrative new industry.

His measure would set aside a large number of licenses to run dispensaries, cultivation centers, and other marijuana businesses for people who were impacted by drug prohibition or live in low-income areas. It would also direct 50% of all tax revenue from marijuana sales to a Community Reinvestment Program Fund that would invest in economic development, homeless prevention, support for returning citizens, and legal assistance in areas with high poverty, unemployment, and gun violence. It would also require that all past marijuana-related offenses be expunged from people’s records.

Bowser’s bill on medical marijuana also focuses on equity by authorizing dispensaries to allow people to use marijuana on-site (a response to the ongoing ban on marijuana use in federally funded public housing), permitting returning citizens to work in medical marijuana facilities, and letting people with felony offenses own and operate medical dispensaries, cultivation, testing centers, and other related businesses. (Bowser has also introduced her own bill to legalize recreational sales, but it is not being included in the council’s November hearing.)

D.C. voters approved a measure in 2014 legalizing the possession, personal use, and home cultivation of small amounts of marijuana, jumping ahead of much of the region. Since then, though, Maryland and Virginia — neither of which has to contend with a congressional prohibition — have started moving towards legalizing recreational sales.

Earlier this year, lawmakers in Virginia passed a bill legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana and setting a target date of 2024 for legal sales. And this summer, Democratic leaders in Maryland said they would move to put the question of whether to legalize marijuana sales on the ballot in 2022; in the meantime, a working group of lawmakers has started meeting to sketch out what a possible legal marketplace for marijuana could look like in Maryland.