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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The Charleston Ordinance and Rules Committee met Monday to discuss two marijuana-related measures -- Bill 8039 and 8043.

Bill 8039 relates to the simple possession of marijuana and other controlled substances. Council member Frank Annie said the bill was discussed because the code needs to be updated.

“We made some progress on the initial bill to kind of soften some of the penalties on first offense of marijuana, gave people some more options if they get caught for for simple possession,” Annie said.

The committee already talked about amending certain aspects of the bill, including cutting out court costs in first possession marijuana cases and changing what constitutes simple possession.

“It’s 15 grams in there and, as Councilman Pepper said, like you know a chip bag is 30 grams. The conception of how small this is, the amounts is, you know that’s why we took that off.”

Bill 8049 also relates to marijuana and it was started by a citizen petition to decriminalize the drug.

Corey Zinn is a volunteer who helped get signatures for the petition. He said the petition is to accomplish a goal many residents want.

“Lower the penalties for simple possession of cannabis for adults as low as we possibly can under state code currently,” Zinn said.

The committee said it hasn’t had a petition like this since 1959 and will not make an official decision on either bill due to the legalities with how they are written.