House Appropriations advances cannabis regulatory bill with pilot 'showcase' events, removes proposed trim-and-harvest license

The House Appropriations Committee advanced H.321 on May 29 after members adopted an amendment that removes provisions creating a new trim-and-harvest license and related fee changes, while retaining a pilot permitting up to five cannabis “showcase” events.

The bill, as advanced, requires the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) to oversee a limited pilot of showcase permits that would allow licensed retailers and partnered cultivators to appear at secured, regulated public events. The Bayron amendment removes sections that would have created a trim-and-harvest license, eliminated an “intent to apply” fee, and added multi‑year product and employee registration options.

At a committee briefing, legislative counsel summarized what the senate’s proposal of amendment changed and what the Bayron amendment would remove. “Sections 4, 8, 11 and 12 are all the sections that the Bayron amendment is proposing to remove,” legislative counsel said, describing those sections as the provisions tied to the trim-and-harvest licensing program.

James Pepper, a representative of the Cannabis Control Board, told the committee the showcase permit is intended as a controlled, pilot experiment that resembles a farmers’ market rather than a consumption festival. “This proposal tries to meet the cultivators halfway,” Pepper said, describing the pilot as a way for tier-1 and tier-2 cultivators to “interact with the public” while preserving retail-store security, tracking and point-of-sale controls.

Under the retained pilot language, the CCB could authorize up to five showcase events between July 1, 2025 and Dec. 30, 2026. Each event would require a security plan, a product-sales plan that details how products are transferred, secured, displayed and sold, and local legislative-body permission. The events would be limited in number, geographically distributed, and limited to licensees in good standing; consumption at the events would be prohibited.

Chris Rupp of the Joint Fiscal Office said the bill, particularly after the Bayron amendment, would not have a significant fiscal impact. He noted any fees or new licenses that were removed by the amendment “would not have had a significant impact to the cannabis regulation fund because there weren't very many trim-and-harvest establishments expected to seek licensure.” Rupp also highlighted section 12a, retained from the senate, which requires the CCB to report to legislative committees by Nov. 15 on fee trends, protections on fee revenue and whether a portion of excise tax revenue should be allocated to the Cannabis Business Development Fund or the Land Access and Opportunity Board (LAOB).

Committee members asked for clarification about how direct sales to the public would operate. Pepper said the pilot does not allow cultivators to sell on their own: sales must be conducted through a retailer partnered with the cultivator, with point-of-sale systems and required regulatory controls present at events. “They’ll bring point of sales to the events, and all the sales…would be through a retailer,” he said.

Committee members used a straw poll to record support for the Bayron amendment removing the trim-and-harvest provisions; committee leadership then conducted a committee vote to advance H.321 as amended. The bill, as amended, keeps the showcase pilot and the CCB reporting requirement but removes the new trim-and-harvest licensing and its fees.

The committee heard repeated cautions that the showcase pilot should be closely regulated and data should be collected to evaluate whether moving sales outside brick‑and‑mortar retail stores can be done safely and in compliance with existing law. Pepper said the pilot is intended as a “proof of concept” before considering broader changes to allow cultivators to sell directly.

What’s next: The committee’s action advances H.321 to the floor as amended; the retained reporting requirement would send a CCB analysis and recommendations to the legislature by Nov. 15, 2025. The committee did not set specific follow-up requirements beyond that report.