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Committee tables CBD ‘pop-up’ sales bill and asks VDACS to study retail registration rules
Summary
A bill to permit licensed CBD retailers to operate short-term off-site sales of CBD-only products was laid on the table 10–0 with a letter directing the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to study regulatory options after the agency opposed the draft on enforcement-resource and product-safety grounds.
Senator Boyce introduced a bill to allow a licensed CBD retailer to sell only CBD products offsite at a temporary location tied to the retailer’s registered brick-and-mortar license. The sponsor said the measure is meant to help a constituent whose small business sells CBD with no THC and who was told she needed an additional registration each time she operated at a festival or farmers market.
Nikia Thomas, program manager for VDACS’s Office of Hemp Enforcement, testified in opposition. She said the draft would create a loophole that could let other establishments use a retailer’s registration to operate pop-up shops and would impair VDACS’s ability to regulate products sold at temporary events. Thomas said VDACS has limited enforcement resources — "we have over 1,200 establishments and we just started doing inspections in September 2023" and "we have only 8 inspectors for the entire state of Virginia" — and that allowing pop-ups would make tracking product safety and responding to illnesses more difficult.
Sponsor and committee discussion: Senator Boyce said the unintended consequence of current practice is that small retailers face repeated $1,000 fees to register for off-site sales. The senator asked for collaboration between VDACS and stakeholders to find a workable solution. Committee members agreed to table the bill and ask the chairman to send a letter requesting VDACS study the issue.
Vote and next steps: The committee laid the bill on the table with a letter to VDACS on a vote of 10–0. The record shows VDACS will be asked to study options for allowing off-site CBD-only sales while maintaining product-safety oversight.
