CCB and Legislative Update
Bill H.321, the leading cannabis legislation in this legislative session, was recently introduced. The Cannabis Control Board has concluded the public comment period for amendments to its administrative rules. As the State House approaches the crucial cross-over date, ensuring the passage of legislation this session, and with the third year of the regulated market approaching, the legislative work for this year is just beginning.
The Vermont State House in Montpelier in early fall.
“It is important to note that we see cannabis as a multi-jurisdictional issue. VGA and our Coalition have been working for years in the State House to improve the process for cannabis legislation to reflect that reality. [...] This year, we are receiving signals from key lawmakers that they support moving toward a multi-jurisdictional legislative process for cannabis legislation, and this is a welcomed and celebrated moment of progress for the entire industry.”
The Cannabis Control Board
The Cannabis Control Board closed the public comment period for changes to its administrative rules on Friday, February 28. VGA submitted comments on behalf of the industry, which you may find here. In a recent monthly Board meeting, Chair Pepper shared that the agency received over 300 comments and recommendations for changes to its rules and expressed it hoped to complete the rule amendment process sometime in March.
From conversations with the commissioners, we anticipate the Board will likely take a few weeks to thoroughly review the over 300 submitted comments and internally deliberate and draft its final changes to its rules. At that time, the Board will share its final drafted changes with the public and file them with the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) a joint legislative committee that helps oversee agency rule-making. LCAR only meets once a month and is also busy with other agencies, so this phase of the process will also take time. After LCAR completes its work, it will submit the newly amended rules to the Secretary of State to fold into Vermont law and post a 7-day public notice of the new regulations going into effect.
The most pressing deadline for the CCB and rule-making is likely the new Medical Use Endorsement retail license, which is statutorily to become available for licensure on July 1. We anticipate the new rules to go into effect sometime before July, likely sometime in June.
The 2025 Legislative Session
Lawmakers opened the 2025 Vermont legislative session on Wednesday, January 8, and we are hearing that they plan to hold a longer-than-normal session and adjourn at the end of May. The State House spent the first several weeks on issues such as elections and taxes, and cannabis legislation didn't begin to surface until the end of February.
This biennium, similar to the last biennium, the Cannabis Control Board worked with the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs, the official committee of jurisdiction for the cannabis sector in the House chamber, to introduce legislation with its priorities. This year, Bill H.321, an act relating to miscellaneous cannabis amendments, is that bill.
Let's take a moment to talk about the legislative process and committees of jurisdiction. At the start of each biennium, leadership from each chamber assigns specific issues to committees. The official committees of jurisdiction for cannabis are the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs in the House and the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs in the Senate. As a result, over the past few years, we have seen cannabis bills each session start in the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs and land in the Senate Committee Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs after cross-over.
Historically, we have seen that cannabis bills introduced in the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs do not reflect industry priorities, nor has that committee demonstrated a willingness to engage our priorities. Instead, we have come to rely on other committees for those discussions. We hope the conditions for serious cannabis discussions in the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs improve. Until it does, we have found greater interest from lawmakers and a more welcomed environment to advance progress on issues in the Senate and both Agriculture committees.
It is important to note that we see cannabis as a multi-jurisdictional issue. VGA and our Coalition have been working for years in the State House to improve the process for cannabis legislation to reflect that reality. For example, instead of limiting cannabis to one committee with unilateral jurisdiction, which places an unfair burden on committee members to understand the full breadth of the various cannabis-related issues, we have been moving lawmakers to include multiple committees in each chamber as the official legislative process for cannabis bills – House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry, House Committee on Health Care, House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, and Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs. This year, we are receiving signals from key lawmakers that they support moving toward a multi-jurisdictional legislative process for cannabis legislation, and this is a welcomed and celebrated moment of progress for the entire industry.
Bill H.321 Breakdown
Bill H.321, the leading cannabis legislation this legislative session, was introduced with the intention of being passed this year. Despite its relatively late introduction on February 25, the bill has encountered opposition and has already undergone amendments. Now, it’s on a trajectory to meet the cross-over deadline and proceed to the Senate chamber for further discussion and amendments. Below, we provide a detailed breakdown of each section of the current version of Bill H.321, which is anticipated to undergo substantial changes in the coming weeks and months.
Section 1
Unlawful possession changes – this is an amendment to existing law, cannabis that's possessed unlawfully can be seized by law enforcement, this section proposes including violations of the Cannabis Control Board's administrative rule to that policy.
Section 2
Criminal background check changes – this is an amendment to existing law, criminal background checks are required to obtain an employee ID card, this section proposes adding fingerprint checks as a new requirement.
Section 3
Technical correction for hemp product definition – this is an amendment that offers no change in policy, it is a technical correction that applies a change from Section 1 Act 166 into Title 7 (lawmakers needed to put it in 2 places on code, they only put it in 1 place last year).
Section 4
Rulemaking for cannabis establishments changes – this section has a few proposed changes amending existing law and offering new policy:
The first proposed change directs the CCB to create a rule for requirements and criteria governing licensee applications to change ownership, control, or location” which amounts to technical change to match the agency’s new proposed rules changes.
The second proposed change in this section are changes to the retail siting charge from Act 166 (2024) directing the Board to promulgate rules allowing them to limit new retail licenses. This change would apply the site rule to current retailers, not just new retailers, specify regional parameters for determining population density, and include community input.
The third proposed change are rules charges to the Board for the new Trim and Harvest license.
Section 5
Criminal background check changes – this section has a few proposed changes:
The first proposed change allows the CCB to determine the frequency of those repeat background checks for “good cause or with prudent frequency”. I think they’re doing this to match the new proposed rules to not require background checks for licensees each year.
The second proposed change brings changes to FBI background checks, which have become an annual occurrence with the CCB and lawmakers since the FBI still refuses to provide its background check service to the agency for its license applications.
Section 6
Employee ID card changes – this is an amendment that proposes authorizing the CCB to allow temporary cards for “good cause" such as instances where the application process takes too long, the Board can issue a temporary Employee ID card.
Section 7
Changes for licenses in distress – this is an amendment that proposes allowing the Board to appoint an individual to take administrative control of the business during times of distress, including death, disability, bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership, assignment for the benefit of creditors, shareholder or LLC member disputes, license interruption, or other exceptional circumstances.
Section 8
Changes to general provisions to the types of licenses – this is an amendment that proposes including the new trim and harvest license into the list of available license types, largely a technical change for the newly proposed trim and harvest license type. Note that the trim and harvest license is exempt from the one-location law to the extent that a trim and harvest licensee can conduct business at multiple different licensees locations.
Section 9
Label changes for Cultivators – this amendment deals with the labeling of cannabis flower and proposes changing the “produced on” date with a “harvested on” date and a “packed on” date reflecting the date the cannabis was packaged for sale.
Section 10
Propagation license changes – this amendment proposes changing the new propagation license to be able to sell living plants to retailers, right now in current law propagation license holders may only sell to cultivators.
Section 11
New trim and harvest license type – this amendment proposes a new license type to allow for a business to operate temporarily in multiple locations to offer trim and harvest services.
Section 12
Fee schedule changes – this amendment has a few proposed changes:
The first section proposes a $500 fee for the new trim and harvest license.
The second section proposes allowing the Board to have discretion to offer product registration for up to 2 years.
The third section proposes to strike the $500 one-time fee to hold a place in line for licensure, which would require being able to afford $1,000 upfront to apply as opposed to having $500 and being able to remit the remaining $500 before licensure.
Section 13
Bulk sale tax changes – this amendment is technical change to existing law in tax code and doesn’t change any policy.
Section 14 and 15
Budget and tax changes – the Cannabis Regulation Fund runs the Board and everything they do, it is funded by licensee fees, product registration fees, and other costs collected by the Board, the excise tax money goes to the General Fund, the fees alone do not support the work of the Board so legislators temporarily allowed some of the excise tax to go into the Cannabis Regulation Fund. It repeals the temporary sunset and makes directing a portion of the excise tax to the Cannabis Regulation Fund to be permanent.
Section 16
Enforcement attorney – this amendment proposes the creation of a new staff member for the CCB to serve as an enforcement attorney under Compliance and Enforcement.
Conclusion and Next Steps
We need your help! Now is the time to contact your legislators to urge they support our legislative issues, most notably the following priorities:
Industry and community reinvestment;
Direct sales for small produces;
Public consumption;
Medical program reforms to position the symptom and condition management under the CCB;
Ag policy reforms, including allowing for non-abutting SPAN’s, and removing the Act 166 (2024) setbacks;
Complete cost-free expungement of any and all cannabis-related charges;
A carrier license type.
Despite the lack of performance in the House Committee of Government Operations and Military Affairs and the current version of Bill H.321 offering nothing to address current and urgent needs of the industry, significant policy items are on the table this 2025 legislative session, including industry and community reinvestment, direct sales for small producers, consumption, important medical reforms, and more – but we cannot earn these moments of progress without broad community support. Now is the time to use the State House website to find your legislator, to send them an email, get them on the phone, or even invite them to your facility, if you are a licensee, to share with them issues important to you and to urge they support VGA and Coalitions work in the State House this year. Please reach out to Geoffrey Pizzutillo, our Legislative Director, if you have any questions or want support contacting your legislators. Let’s do this!!