House committee backs Senate changes to H.321, removes trim-and-harvest provisions

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs committee voted to endorse the Senate mendment to H.321, the miscellaneous cannabis bill, and approved a committee amendment that removes four sections setting up a new trim-and-harvest license and related requirements.

The measure, H.321, drew discussion focused on workload and staffing at the Cannabis Control Board and whether the statewide agency can implement new licensing and direct-to-consumer pilot events while handling a rising volume of complaints and appeals.

Kirby Keaton, state counsel, explained the text changes members were considering and summarized the Byron (Byerong) amendment, saying, "the Byerong amendment would further remove sections 4, 8, 11, and 12." Keaton described other Senate edits that remain in the bill, including a report back on fees and a new seat on the Vermont Land Access and Opportunity Board.

James Pepper, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, told the committee the board has seen rapid market growth and said staffing is driving the decision to narrow parts of the bill. "The market in the last year has grown from a taxable sales perspective 20% over the last year. We've added about 70 new businesses," Pepper said. He added the board currently has one attorney and that workload has increased, explaining why the board had requested an additional enforcement attorney that the Senate Appropriations Committee later removed from the budget: "We have 1 attorney now. He often finds himself in the position of prosecuting these cases...and then advising the board on how to kinda rule on objections and everything else."

Pepper described the sections removed by the committee amendment as those that would have established a new trim-and-harvest license and related rulemaking, as well as provisions in Section 12 that included a $500 fee for that license, a 2-year option for employee ID cards and product registrations, and elimination of an "intent to apply" fee. He said those policy ideas are not infeasible but require time, expertise and IT work: "it's not something we can snap our fingers and do."

The committee also discussed two Senate additions that remain in the amended bill: a requirement that the Cannabis Control Board report back to the legislature in November on the current fee schedule, and a pilot program allowing up to five "showcase" or farmer's-market-style retail events where cultivators, working with retailers, could display and sell products. Pepper said the board is not required to hold any such event and emphasized staffing and safety constraints: "we're under no obligation to hold even a single 1...We can't do more than 5, but we don't have to do any."

Members questioned whether the board would likely authorize at least one event if the pilot stays in the bill; one lawmaker said if staffing exists, "I feel pretty confident that you'll be holding 1 of these events." Others raised policy reservations about moving sales outside traditional retail venues; one committee member said they would not support direct-to-consumer sales even if they had supported H.321 earlier in the process.

The committee also heard Pepper say the board will keep a retail siting moratorium in place and intends to return to retail siting as a matter of local control next year: "Our retail moratorium will be in place until that bill passes next year," he said, adding that local governments should have deeper input on where retail establishments may locate.

Formal action came at the end of the meeting. The committee recorded a favorable position on the Senate proposal of amendment to H.321 and then voted on the Byron amendment that strips the four sections described above. The recorded vote on the Byron amendment was 10-0-1 in favor of adopting it; the committee therefore removed the specified sections from the measure it is reporting on.

What remains in the bill for the committee and the Cannabis Control Board are the Senate-added reporting requirements on fees, the potential additional LAOB member appointed by Migrant Justice, and the pilot showcase-event language, along with the house-origin provisions the Senate left intact. Committee members repeatedly emphasized that several of the bill's changes hinge on the board's available staff and IT capacity and that some tasks will require further rulemaking and interagency work before implementation.

The committee did not adopt new funding or an enforcement attorney in this meeting; Pepper said the removal of the attorney in Senate Appropriations reflects budgetary constraints. He and staff urged that decisions about product registration lengths, testing cadence and employee ID renewals be developed by the board with public-health and industry input before statutory changes are implemented.

Next steps: the committee forwarded its position on the amended H.321 with the Byron amendment applied; the bill and the report back items will advance in the legislative process as amended.