The Vermont Senate on May 30 concurred in the House’s proposed amendments to H.321, a miscellaneous cannabis bill, removing several provisions the House said were unnecessary or premature.

The conference/house-returned document deletes a proposed “trim and harvest” license category, associated rule-making authority and multi-location operation language, and eliminates authorization for up to five statewide cannabis showcase events. The Senate voted to concur in the House proposal of amendment by voice vote.

Senator from Franklin, presenting the House amendments, said the Cannabis Control Board had raised capacity concerns because the bill did not provide additional staffing to carry out the board’s new duties. For that reason, the committee and the board agreed the separate trim-and-harvest license and the more expansive license criteria should be removed for now. The presenter said the board uses outside labor for trimming and harvesting at present.

On the showcase events, the presenter said House committee members were concerned such events “may be seen to promote the use of cannabis” and recommended the deletion. The committee voted 4-0-1 to accept the House’s changes and recommended concurrence.

The Senate concurred in the House proposal and later suspended rules to message the chamber’s action on H.321 to the House.

The presenter said some parts of the deleted language could be revisited later if the Cannabis Control Board’s staffing and capacity increase; for now, the body removed provisions described as operationally unnecessary or potentially promotional.

The Senate record shows the concurrence was followed by a rules suspension to send the action to the House forthwith.