Senate concurs with House changes to cannabis bill, removes proposed trim-and-harvest license and showcase events

The Vermont Senate on the floor concurred in the House proposal of amendment to the Senate's prior amendment to H.321, a package of miscellaneous cannabis changes, removing sections that would have created a new "trim and harvest" license type and striking language authorizing up to five cannabis "showcase" events statewide.

Senators said the deletions were driven by capacity concerns at the Cannabis Control Board. "The board had issues in terms of its capacity to do all the things that were being requested since its staffing was not increased," the Senator from Franklin told the Senate when presenting the House's return. "The cannabis control board agreed, the House agreed, as well that it was not necessary to have this particular trim and harvest license type," the senator said.

What changed

The presenter explained the House amendment removed multiple sections that would have created and authorized a trim and harvest license and related rules, and deleted provisions that would have allowed the Cannabis Control Board to permit up to five statewide showcase events. The House committee that reviewed the provisions had concerns that the events could be seen as promoting consumption rather than regulating it; the conference report concurred with that concern and deleted the sections.

Committee vote and concurrence

The committee of conference reported by a 4-0-1 vote to accept the House's proposed changes, and the Senate agreed by voice vote to concur. After the concurrence vote, the Senate suspended rules and voted to message the actions taken on H.321 to the House forthwith.

Ending

The Senate's concurrence removes the new license category and showcase-event authorization from the version of H.321 now being returned to the House. Presenters noted that some of the ideas could be revisited later if the Cannabis Control Board's staffing and capacity change.