Legislative Update
The legislature is in recess until August 25th. Corporate cannabis companies plan to make a push to pass bill s.54 into law when policymakers return. VGA and coalition partners plan to oppose those efforts. Senator Baruth admits s.54 will take years to realize revenue, and, before the recess, the Senate sent the House a bill that doubles adult-use plant numbers and possession.
“If we were to pass s.54, and it played out the way the senate bill works, it would take 2 years before you start to realize tax revenues...”
Before the House and Senate took their one-month recess, on June 25th, it became increasingly clear to us that the few proponents of bill s.54, most of which are out-of-state companies, plans to make a push in the conference committee, and with the governor, to pass the bill into law.
GR Companies, Inc., Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc., and Champlain Valley Dispensary, Inc. are the 4 corporate cannabis companies operating in Vermont’s medical cannabis market, they are the stakeholders behind bill s.54, not local farms and small businesses. These large cannabis companies hold licenses in several states, and their dozens of high-paid lobbyists in Montpelier see August as a make-or-break moment for their clients’ legislation.
The best way to oppose bill s.54 is to fight for emergency reforms in the conference committee and with the governor until the session ends. Not only does this help prevent the bill from passing, by highlighting its flaws, but it will also carry our policies into the next legislative session, in 2021, should the bill fail. S.54 is too restrictive for Vermonter’s, there is no value chain for farmers, no fair and equal licensing, no social equity for BIPOC, and the bill goes so far as to restrict outdoor cultivation. To add insult to injury, in a recent VTDigger article, Senator Baruth, a sponsor of s.54, admits, “If we were to pass s.54, and it played out the way the Senate bill works, it would take 2 years before you start to realize tax revenues.” One year is too long, 2 years is unacceptable, the pandemic has devastated local farms, small businesses, and Vermont’s state economy, we cannot afford to setup Cannabis Control Board with a $1mm operating budge that will drag its feet licensing small businesses, for years, while corporations operate freely in our market.
When the legislature legalized cannabis in 2018, they carved-out the most restrictive possession and plant count numbers in the country, allowing Vermont adults to possess 1 ounce of cannabis and grow 2 mature plants. Before the June recess, the Senate passed a bill that would double the amount of cannabis an adult can possess to 2 ounces, and the number of mature plants grown to 4 plants. This bill now resides in the House. The legislation also contains language for automatic expungements that stand to clear the records for thousands of misdemeanor cannabis convictions.