The Vermont House concurred in the Senateproposal of amendment to H.321, a miscellaneous cannabis bill, and adopted further House amendments. The House also debated a late Senate addition that would have created pilot "cannabis showcase" (farmers market) events allowing retailers to partner directly with small cultivators and manufacturers for limited, adults-only events; that pilot (Section 15a) remained in the amended package after floor debate.

Floor reports and committee presentations describe H.321 primarily as a "housekeeping" and regulatory-clarifying measure that addresses practical licensing, background-check and business-transfer questions raised by the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) as the market matures. Among the changes discussed on the floor and in committee are: clarifying that hemp-derived intoxicating products (per CCB administrative rule) are regulated as cannabis and therefore subject to cannabis testing, packaging, labeling and advertising rules; permitting the CCB to accept electronic FBI-supported fingerprint-based criminal-history checks; authorizing temporary permits for operation of a cannabis establishment in certain emergency circumstances; removing a statutory requirement that the CCB issue temporary employee cards while processing applications; and asking the CCB to evaluate fees and excise-tax allocation for FY27.

Several sections the Senate had added would have created a new trim-and-harvest or service license category with multi-location authority and a related fee structure; the House floor report and the government-operations committee recommended striking that language. The Housefurther amendment offered by Representative Birong and supported by the Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee removed sections identified in the calendar as 4, 8, 11 and 12 (the trim/harvest license regulatory framework) because committee members and appropriators raised concerns about creating new license types without sufficient legal-support capacity in the CCB.

Section 15a, the pilot for "cannabis showcase" farmers-market events, remained in the amended package. The floor report described it as a pilot allowing a retailer in good standing, partnered with a minimum of three small cultivators and manufacturers, to seek municipal approval and a CCB permit to operate an adults-only sales event. The bill requires municipal opt-in, retailer good-standing (tax compliance, insurance), secure and screened event areas, on-site retailer oversight of sales, a profit-sharing agreement protecting small cultivators, and CCB authority to add restrictions or terminate the pilot. The sponsor explained the pilot was intended to help small cultivators who say their business model is not viable without more direct access to customers, while preserving the retailer as the regulated sales conduit.

Appropriations and Ways & Means committee floor reports noted the change adding one member to the Land Access Opportunity Board and asked for awareness that future allocations of excise-tax revenue could affect the general fund. The floor report indicated the bill's committee votes were generally favorable on straw polls, and the House concurred with the Senate proposal of amendment with further amendment. The adopted amendment sets an effective date of 07/01/2025 for the substantive provisions that remain in the bill and delegates fee-evaluation reporting to the CCB for consideration in FY27.

Discussion versus decisions: the House removed the proposed new trim/harvest license language and retained the farmers-market pilot with multiple guardrails; it also asked the CCB to study fees and excise-tax allocation.