Committee advances sweeping hemp and vape bill after amendments on taxes and distribution

The House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on April 1 advanced House Bill 13‑76, a broad measure to regulate hemp‑derived products and impose wholesale taxes, after adopting several amendments. The committee voted to send the bill to the calendar and rules committee by a recorded tally of 27 ayes, 0 nos.

The bill, sponsored by Leader Peter Lambert in committee, was amended several times to combine provisions from judiciary and commerce, add product‑level tax structure and redirect how tax revenues are distributed. Proponents said the changes move tax collection from retail to wholesale and create enforcement funding for the Department of Revenue and the Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC).

Leader Peter Lambert told the committee the bill’s tax changes ‘‘bring in a larger fiscal note’’ and that ‘‘the long term plan was always on these particular products to collect the tax at the wholesale level.’’ Chairman Jim Williams, sponsor of key amendments, described numeric limits and a wholesale tax structure intended to regulate product strength and fund enforcement. Williams said the amendment set per‑serving and per‑pack thresholds and applied a wholesale collection point "much like we currently do [for] wine and spirits." He also explained an amended revenue split directing a portion to ABC for administration and the remainder to the general fund.

Major amendments and committee action - Amendment (drafting code 005352) combined judiciary and commerce provisions into a single package and was adopted. The committee subsequently adopted a series of sponsor‑filed amendments refining tax mechanics and allocations. - An amendment that would have allowed vending machines for hemp products was laid on the table after members expressed concerns about automated sales and age verification. - Amendment (drafting code 6799) set product limits and proposed a wholesale tax mechanism. Committee debate recorded serving‑level figures (15 mg per serving for gummies as referenced by the sponsor) and an illustrative retail equivalent of roughly 30¢ for a 15 mg beverage serving; those figures were introduced by the sponsor as part of the tax framework and recorded in committee testimony. The transcript contains the sponsor’s numeric descriptions; some members asked for clerical fixes to percentages and allocations. - An untimely amendment (drafting code 6952) was adopted to set distribution of collected wholesale taxes: 10% to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission for administration, 10% to the Department of Revenue for enforcement costs, and the remaining 80% to the state general fund, per the sponsor’s description.

Committee members pressed for drafting clarifications and one untimely technical amendment was discussed and adopted to correct allocation percentages. Representative debate touched on how the wholesale shift would affect retailers, growers and consumers; sponsors and the committee emphasized that the change is intended to improve enforcement and consistency with existing alcohol and tobacco tax collection mechanisms.

What the bill does and what remains unclear The amended measure seeks to: (1) regulate hemp‑derived products and set per‑serving and per‑pack limits for certain product categories; (2) impose a wholesale tax collected at point of distribution rather than at retail; and (3) allocate tax receipts to enforcement and the general fund.

Transcript testimony and committee discussion included specific numeric examples supplied by the sponsor; some of those figures were presented in committee as part of amendment text but committee members asked for clerical corrections and clarifications before further floor action. The committee did not adopt additional, final implementation timelines in public remarks during the April 1 session.

The bill now moves to the calendar and rules committee; sponsors said they remain available to work with members on technical fixes before further floor consideration.