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Board caucus briefed on looming session cutoffs and several cannabis, kratom tax bills
Summary
Director of legislative relations Mark Webster told the board caucus that tomorrow is the policy cutoff and listed several tax-related cannabis and kratom bills in play, including a proposal to split the Liquor and Cannabis Board into two five-member boards; Webster said one major cannabis hearing was pulled after heavy public signups.
Mark Webster, director of legislative relations, told the board caucus on Feb. 3 that the legislature’s policy cutoff is tomorrow, after which fiscal and house-of-origin deadlines arrive in short order.
"Tomorrow's policy cutoff, so most bills need to be voted out of their respective policy committees by tomorrow at the end of the day," Webster said, describing an accelerated schedule that will eliminate many proposals over the next two weeks.
Webster highlighted that two major kratom proposals include tax elements and that a broad cannabis excise-tax overhaul is also structured as a tax bill — details that could affect which deadlines apply. He said the legislature is tracking multiple bills and that some proposals tied to the budget may be exempt from ordinary cutoffs because they are necessary to implement the budget.
Webster said a high-profile cannabis hearing scheduled in Senate Ways and Means was removed from the calendar after "hundreds of people signed up to testify, most in opposition," and that the cannabis industry itself is divided over parts of the proposal. He also listed several moving bills by number and called attention to Senate Bill 6290, a measure that would rework the Liquor and Cannabis Board to create two full-time five-member boards — one to oversee cannabis and one for other matters — a proposal Webster characterized as a "conversation starter" with a potentially challenging fiscal note.
Board member Garrett Holmes asked whether any of the CRADEM measures would include an outright ban of a provision described in the discussion; Webster replied that two of the measures include that provision and one does not, and that the Senate may combine elements of current bills before sending them to the House.
The chair and members did not take formal action at the caucus; Webster said staff will continue tracking bills and that committee activity over the next several days will be decisive for many measures.
