House Finance Division III votes to recommend SB 118 to full committee after rejecting amendment to strip home-grow language

CONCORD, N.H. — House Finance Division III voted 6-3 on May 22 to recommend that Senate Bill 118 move to the full finance committee as amended in the House, after members rejected an amendment that would have removed provisions allowing personal home cultivation of cannabis for therapeutic use.

Vice Chair Representative Maureen Mooney, presiding over Division III in the absence of Chairman Representative Jess Edwards, said the panel must report a recommendation on SB 118 to full finance by May 29. Division members considered several procedural options including recommending the bill as-is (ought to pass), retaining it, ITL (inexpedient to legislate), or adopting an amendment that would strip policy language and retain only funding measures for Hampstead Hospital.

The contested amendment, labeled 23-45H and offered by Mooney, would have deleted sections of the House version that add home cultivation for therapeutic cannabis (the provisions linked to House Bill 53) and retained sections 1–5 of the original Senate bill, which the committee said relate to Hampstead Hospital funding and related contractual provisions. Mooney said she supported the amendment as a strategic move to increase the bill’s chance of enactment, explaining, “My suspicion is that Governor Ayotte will veto Senate…