Senate Finance strips new cannabis fees from H.321, asks Cannabis Control Board for fee study

Senate Finance on May 23, 2025 amended H.321 to remove newly added cannabis establishment fees and asked the Cannabis Control Board to study fee levels and revenue use and return recommendations next year.

The committee adopted Draft 1.2, which strikes fees added in sections identified in the house version and directs the Cannabis Control Board to consult “with everybody involved” and report back with recommended fee structures, while leaving intact a $500 fee and certain harvester-related triggers described in the amendment. An unnamed committee member who explained the change said the committee did not want to “put them out of business” and wanted information because the businesses “are out there dealing with a controlled substance.”

The amendment includes a study provision for the Cannabis Control Board to review fees in the bill’s subsections and to examine the use of any revenue linked to those fees. The committee’s motion to adopt Draft 1.2 was made during the meeting and the clerk recorded the roll call; the chair called the approval recorded as 4-0-3. The transcript shows several senators responding in roll call; the committee then moved on to other agenda items.

The change removes the immediately effective new charges from the bill and replaces them with a direction to the Cannabis Control Board to undertake consultation and return recommendations, rather than setting new fee levels in statute during this session. The committee left in place a $500 fee and language tied to newly created harvester triggers noted in the amendment.

The committee did not adopt a final fee schedule at the meeting; instead members directed the board to conduct the study and provide recommendations to the Legislature next year. The amendment’s text and the vote were presented on the committee screen during the meeting.