The 2021 Vermont legislative session kicked-off earlier this month, on Wednesday, January 6, convening under the same mandate as the last session, to focus on COVID-19 priorities, and with plans to adjourn on Friday, May 28. Last session lawmakers levied the possibility of amendments, in the following session, in 2021, as a means to gain support for passing bill S.54. Now that this session has arrived, we are looking at, at least, 2 amendment bills to bring reforms to Act 164 this year.

Senate bill S.25 is a new bill for this 2021 legislative session that a small group of Senators, with consultation from our Coalition, worked on practically immediately after bill S.54 was enacted, last year in October. This short piece of legislation, it’s an eight-page bill, seeks to deal with the issues regarding improvements to Act 164 based on issues raised by the Governor and other concerns that the Senators had with the compromises that lead to Act 164. While bill S.25 does not go far enough, yet, to meet the concerns expressed last session surrounding racial and agricultural equity, accessibility, and justice, it is expected to arrive in committee this week and VGA and the Coalition plan to continue to work with policymakers and Vermonters to shape this bill before it moves to the House.

Below is a summary, with our analysis, of the new Senate bill S.25.

• Requires towns to place the issue of retail sales of cannabis on the ballot not later than March 1, 2022;
  Analysis: This means that opt-in still exists and a patchwork of confusing local regulations may remain which also poses as a barrier-to-entry for small businesses.

• Allows the Cannabis Control Board discretion as to whether to grant any integrated licenses;
  Analysis: This may be in anticipation of the recent mergers between multi-state operators Grassroots, Inc. and Curaleaf Holdings, both of which are medical dispensary license holders in Vermont.

• Requires the Cannabis Control Board to consider reduced license fees for individuals who historically have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition and to present a proposal to the General Assembly not later than April 1, 2021 regarding a low-interest loan fund to be made available to individuals who historically have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition who seek to participate in the regulated cannabis market;
  Analysis: This is good, but the devil is in the details and we need more information.

• Requires that 25 percent of cannabis flower sold by an integrated licensee between August 1, 2022 and October 1, 2022 be obtained from a licensed small cultivator;
  Analysis: 25% is a low quantity of total stock for the market and it’s only for 3 months.

• Requires the Vermont Criminal Justice Council to report to the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee regarding funding for the requirement that on or before December 31, 2021 all law enforcement officers receive a minimum of 16 hours of Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement training as required by Sec. 20 of 2019 Acts and Resolves No. 164;
  Analysis: Training and education of law enforcement are always good, but defunding and reallocating those resources is better for society.

• Requires any General Fund appropriations for substance misuse prevention programming that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year be carried forward and only be used for the purpose of funding substance misuse prevention programming in the subsequent fiscal year.
  Analysis: This is good, but the devil is in the details and we need more information.

The second amendment bill for Act 164 this year will be the Coalition’s own legislation. Over the past few months, VGA and Coalition spent countless hours developing our own bill to fix Act 164 shortcomings and transform Vermont’s legal marketplace into a craft-centric, equitable, and accessible one, also reforming the medical cannabis market so patients and caregivers deserve the program they demand. That’s right, you will have a bill that reflects the interests of BIPOC, farms, and small businesses that wish to participate in the emerging legal marketplace. We will have more on this bill in a future blog post, but below is an outline of the objective.

• To provide racial, economic, and small farm equity updates to the regulatory system for the production and sale of cannabis and cannabis products in Vermont;

• To provide definitions used to establish eligibility criteria for equity applicants; to Establish a Cannabis Development Fund;

• To Outline criteria for loans, grants, and fee waivers for equity applicants;

• To Provide a license transfer process for equity applicants;

• To Establish a Community Social Equity Program;

• To Establish requirements for Integrated businesses to contribute to the Cannabis Business Development Fund;

• Requires Integrated Businesses to create and implement a Social Equity Inclusion Plan;

• To reform the existing Medical Dispensary licensing structure and privileges, as well as address caregiver allowances for up to 5 patients;

• Establish the understanding that Outdoor Cultivation of cannabis is fundamentally an agricultural activity;

• Establish a Craft licensing structure and the costs of Craft licenses, differentiating between indoor, mixed-light, and outdoor cultivation for commercial and home cultivation;

• To Outline accountability measures for the CCB in relationship to the Advisory Committee;

• And to further criminal justice reforms by removing all incarceration sentencing, expunging all records directly related to cannabis crimes cost-free, offering reasonable limitations to criminal background checks and Cannabis Establishment ID cards.

Last year lawmakers, and some of our political opponents, used the talking point that amendments in 2021 could address VGAs and Coalitions concerns with bill S.54 and to “just pass the bill” to reach amendments next session. Well, that session has now arrived and we are at the table ready to reform Act 164 – to all our political opponents in 2020, where do you stand now? Last year was a difficult one for our country, but we hope that unity within Vermont’s cannabis community will be a persistent theme this New Year.