Senate members on the Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee reviewed a House amendment to H.321 on May 30 that would remove a proposed trim-and-harvest cannabis license and related fee and registration changes from the bill.

The amendment, expected to appear on the House floor the morning of the hearing, would delete four sections of H.321 that set licensing criteria and a new trim-and-harvest license type, remove a proposed fee change, and leave in place currently enacted provisions including the existing intent-to-apply fee, staff said.

Why it matters: committee and Cannabis Control Board staff described the amendment as a way to avoid imposing new administrative, IT and enforcement work on the board this year. Board staff said the change would postpone several policy items — including a two-year product-registration option and a two-year employee ID card — that would require technical and regulatory work before they could be implemented.

Kirby Keaton, Legislative Council, summarized the amendment’s effect to the committee, saying the change would remove the statutory sections that created the new licensing and rulemaking duties. James Pepper of the Cannabis Control Board said the proposed deletion would “take out the areas of the bill that would have added new administrative work for the board,” and noted the market’s recent growth: “the market is also just growing through 20% last year. We added about 70 new businesses last year.” Pepper also said the sector includes about “420 cultivators right around there.”

Board staffing and workload were central to the discussion. Board staff said the Senate Appropriations Committee removed one requested board staff position earlier in the session; creating a new license type, they said, would require IT changes, rulemaking, licensing administration and enforcement capacity the board does not have immediately. Pepper recommended delaying the trim-and-harvest license and related implementation work so the board can “do its homework over the summer” and prepare a comprehensive fee report before returning to the Legislature.

On specifics, committee staff and board representatives outlined the text the House amendment would strip from H.321: a provision establishing licensing criteria for changes in ownership, control or location of cannabis establishments; the statutory rulemaking authority tied to the new license; the creation of a trim-and-harvest license (reducing the enumerated license types back to seven rather than eight); and fee-and-registration changes that included an option for two-year employee ID cards, a two-year product-registration option for certain shelf-stable products, and elimination of an early-market $500 intent-to-apply fee. Staff said the $500 intent-to-apply fee was originally used during an early licensing backlog and is no longer being used in practice.

Board staff also described policy work that would continue even if the House amendment removes these items from H.321. The two-year product-registration option, they said, will require consultation with other states and the Department of Health to determine which products are shelf-stable for two years; the work will be included in the board’s upcoming fee report. Pepper said some product categories (for example, tinctures) are likely candidates for longer registrations but that broader scientific and regulatory work is needed.

The committee also heard that the Cannabis Control Board has an existing, board-approved pause on accepting new retail license applications intended to avoid clustering in municipalities such as Burlington and Rutland. Pepper said that pause was a board decision, not a statutory moratorium, and that the board does not intend to lift it until there is clearer statutory direction on local retail siting.

House committee votes on the package were reported to the Senate: the House Government Operations Committee reported the amendment package 8-2-1 (one absent); Ways and Means reported it 7-0-4; and Appropriations reported it 6-5, reflecting some policy concern despite expected minimal fiscal effect. The Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) estimate of the fee change tied to removing the trim-and-harvest fees was described to the committee as de minimis, about $5,000.

The Senate committee did not take a formal vote during the meeting. Members discussed standing ready to act if the House sends over the amendment; staff said responding would likely be handled as floor action when the amendment is formally received. Several senators suggested they would support the House amendment as described but wanted the option to caucus if changes arrived that materially altered the package.

What’s next: committee staff and board representatives will monitor the House floor action and, if necessary, be available to advise senators when the amendment is delivered to the Senate. The Cannabis Control Board said it will continue preparatory policy and fee-report work over the summer but will not implement the new licensing or registration changes this year if the amendment is enacted.

Less critical detail: board staff emphasized biosecurity and worker-insurance concerns tied to seasonal trimming contractors but said those issues are not fully addressed by the trimmed-back approach and will require further study.