Latest Cannabis News: May 24, 2022
Latest Cannabis News: May 24, 2022
Stay up to date with the latest legalization and cannabis news with the C.B. Advisors. Every week, we will release a snippet of what’s happening with each state in the cannabis industry. Did you miss last week? No worries – click here for last week’s cannabis news.
Dry
Kansas: Democrats are making a final push for the legislature to pass a bill to legalize medical marijuana ahead of Monday’s scheduled end of the session.
While a medical cannabis bill already cleared the House of Representatives last year and a bicameral conference committee met last month to discuss a potential deal to get the measure to the governor’s desk, negotiations have reached a standstill.
If the Republican-controlled legislature doesn’t move quickly, lawmakers will have to start the process all over again in 2023.
Nebraska: Supporters of medical marijuana in Nebraska have launched a legal challenge to the state’s requirement that 5 percent of registered voters in at least 38 counties sign a petition to get the measure before voters on the ballot.
On Monday, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska in filing a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
The organizations requested a decision by July 7 on the constitutionality of the multicounty signature distribution requirement. They also asked for a court order to suspend the requirement by that date, which is the deadline for petitioners to submit their collected signatures.
Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/nebraska-medical-marijuana-activists-file-lawsuit-over-ballot-rules/
Medical
Alabama: A bill making Delta-8 THC a banned substance in Alabama, like its close cannabinoid cousin – Delta 9, has been introduced in the Alabama legislature.
Senate Bill 144 was introduced on Tuesday, Feb. 1. It is sponsored by State Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence). This bill would provide that only non-psychoactive cannabinols derived from or found in hemp are exempt from the Schedule I controlled substances list.
Alabama legalized Delta-9 THC in medical marijuana last year. Melson was the sponsor of that bill. Licensed dispensaries will be selling Alabama-grown medical marijuana later this year.
SB144 has been assigned to the Senate Health Committee.
Wednesday will be day eight of the 2022 Alabama Regular Legislative Session.
Source: https://1819news.com/news/item/lawmakers-to-consider-delta-8-ban-in-alabama-02-09-2022
Delaware: The pursuit of creating a recreational marijuana industry in Delaware hit a bump on Thursday, as a bill seeking to regulate the growing and selling of weed failed in the House by one vote.
Rep. Larry Mitchell, House majority whip, was ill and could not vote, said House spokesman Drew Volturo. Mitchell is a co-sponsor of HB 372, the bill that failed, and has voted for marijuana legalization and regulation bills in the past.
Just after the House vote failed, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ed Osienski, changed his vote to “no,” which allowed for another roll call vote.
Florida: Last week, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried announced that registration is now open for the inaugural Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Cannabis Equity Summit to take place June 17, 2022 at the Urban League of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale. The one-day summit will concentrate on the theme “Accessing Opportunities and Overcoming Obstacles” and is being hosted in collaboration with the Urban League of Broward County, Greenbook Academy, and Skyers Law Group.
Louisiana: A Louisiana bill to protect state employees who use medical cannabis unanimously passed the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations last week. If approved, the law would protect employees from being fired and prospective employees from being discriminated against for their medical cannabis use, according to an LSU Manship School News Service report.
The measure does not include protections for law enforcement, firefighters, or other public safety officials.
Minnesota: Minnesota’s Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday blocked Democrats’ move to advance a marijuana legalization bill stalled in committee.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen (D) announced her plans to bring the issue up for consideration on the chamber floor through a procedural mechanism that would have required a supermajority of 41 votes to advance. As was expected, the motion failed to reach that threshold in the GOP-run body.
Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/minnesota-republican-senators-block-marijuana-legalization-vote/
Mississippi: One stipulation of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act could provide local entrepreneurs a leg up. Gov. Tate Reeves passed the law last February, and licensing will begin in June. For the first six months of cultivation and processing facility licensing, the licensee will have to have ties to Mississippi. The license requires showing proof that the business owner has been a resident of Mississippi for at least three years and a citizen of the United States for at least three years before the application date.
If a business entity, for instance, an LLC, applies for a license, at least 35% of the equity ownership interests in the business must be held by people who have been residents of Mississippi and citizens of the United States for at least three years. The stipulation ends on Dec 31, 2022.
Source: https://www.sunherald.com/news/business/article261574127.html
New Hampshire: Once again, it appears that adult-use legalization in New Hampshire is officially dead for the year. The state’s Senate overwhelmingly rejected 15-9 the House’s attempt to insert legalized possession and home growing into a Senate bill related to escaped prisoners on May 12.
Activists are now looking toward November when the entire State Senate is up for reelection, according to Daryl Eames, founder of the New Hampshire Cannabis Association.
Source: https://grownin.com/2022/05/17/new-hampshire-sen-kills-legalization-again/
Oklahoma: More than 90 cannabis-related bills were filed at the beginning of the session, but as lawmakers wind down their time at the Capitol, only 20 remain. Four bills have been signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, while others are waiting to be heard on the floor or are working through conference committees.
Several of the bills aim to crack down on the cannabis black market — an issue heightened by multiple large-scale illegal marijuana busts. A few bills target standardizing operations, and others add more regulations and fees to the licensing process. Overall, bolstering the OMMA’s authority, increasing penalties for violations, and implementing measures to mitigate impacts on natural resources were critical areas of focus during this legislative session.
Signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt:
- HB3019: Requires purchased marijuana, leaving a dispensary to be contained in an exit package, which is described as an opaque bag. It would also require marijuana containers to be printed with “For use by licensed medical marijuana patients only” and “Keep out of reach of children” on the container. The container may be clear.
- SB1543: Removes the OMMA as a division of the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The OMMA would instead function as its own distinct entity.
- SB1367- Does a few things related to punishments for unauthorized transfers of cannabis
- HB3530- Creates the County Sheriff Public Safety Grant Revolving Fund, which would be used for law enforcement relating to marijuana. It would be funded by money received by the OMMA and any federal funds, grants, or donations from public or private sources.
Rhode Island: Rhode Island senators on Tuesday will take up a bill legalizing, regulating, and taxing adult recreation cannabis in the state, following a favorable vote on the legislation in a recent panel meeting.
The Senate Committee on Judiciary on May 18 voted 9-1 with a favorable recommendation of Senate Bill 2430. State Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, D-Coventry, cast the dissenting vote.
Many of the core tenants of the original bill remain intact, including the establishment of a 10% state excise tax, a 7% state sales tax, and a 3% local sales tax for the municipality where the sale occurs.
Recreational
Connecticut: There was no shortage of interest in Connecticut’s retail cannabis market, as evidenced by the 15,605 applications for licenses the state received. Now comes the process of selecting the winners. The state is issuing 12 retail cannabis licenses to start, with half reserved for social equity applicants who must meet income and residency requirements. Two lotteries will be held for each license type — a social equity lottery and a general lottery — to determine who will operate in Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis industry.
The social equity lottery is meant to benefit those with lesser income levels and who have lived in “disproportionately affected areas” or census tracts that “have either a historical conviction rate for drug-related offenses greater than one-tenth, or an unemployment rate greater than ten percent.”
The selected applicants will not be revealed publicly until the cannabis Social Equity Council vets them to ensure they meet the established criteria. Those who do will be sent to DCP for review before issuing provisional licenses. If a selected applicant is disqualified under the social equity rules, then the next sequentially ranked applicant from the social equity lottery will be sent to the council to review.
Disqualified applicants from the social equity lottery can enter the general lottery provided they pay the difference in application fees. For a retail cannabis license, the non-refundable fees are $250 for an equity applicant and $500 for a non-equity applicant.
Source: https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/CT-received-over-15-000-retail-cannabis-17182646.php
Illinois: Illinois has begun issuing permits for new craft grow cannabis operations to begin construction. A judge has authorized the state to hold a corrective lottery for dispensary applicants who filed lawsuits challenging the licensing process.
Those two developments mark small but significant steps in the long-delayed process of expanding access and improving competition in the state’s legal marijuana industry.
Massachusetts: The Massachusetts House voted overwhelmingly last Wednesday to approve significant reforms to the state’s marijuana laws, with legislative leaders saying they were implementing changes long demanded by cannabis businesses, activists, and consumers.
The 153-2 vote in favor of the bill, which largely mirrors legislation approved by the state Senate in April, came on the same day regulators announced that total recreational pot sales in Massachusetts have surpassed $3 billion — underscoring the high stakes of any tweaks to the rules governing the industry.
Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/18/marijuana/mass-house-poised-vote-sweeping-cannabis-bill/
New Mexico: New Mexico recreational-use cannabis companies, for the first time, are required to file their gross receipts and cannabis excise taxes in one week. It’s unclear exactly how much the state is set to collect, but cannabis regulators reported more than $20 million in recreational-use sales for April.
On May 5, the state’s Taxation and Revenue Department issued a press release with specifications on how the newly established cannabis excise tax will be calculated with state gross receipts taxes. The guidance from the department was to apply the 12 percent cannabis excise tax to total sales before figuring in the roughly 7 to 8 percent gross receipts tax.
New York: The New York Senate and Assembly have passed a bill to encourage businesses to use hemp materials for packaging, construction, and other industrial purposes. After the final procedural steps, the measure will be on its way to the governor.
The legislation amends state statute to stipulate that the Agriculture Commissioner would need to work with the Urban Development Corporation, hemp workgroup, and stakeholders who use (or “may potentially use”) hemp “to develop and promote the use of hemp by businesses for purposes such as packaging, construction, and other uses.”
Oregon: For the next two years, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (“OLCC”) will roll out a series of recently enacted rules and regulations designed to expand the already successful Oregon cannabis industry further. The revised and amended rules and regulations will relax regulations that many believe to be overregulation of certain parts of the industry and combat federal tax issues that financially impact the cannabis industry. The highlights of the amendments are as follows:
Senate Bill 408 relaxes regulations and removes punitive measures for regulation violations and instead focuses on compliance supported by education and training. S.B. 408 will also increase the number of cannabis consumers may purchase from one to two ounces, and concentration limits in edibles increase to 100 mg per package, double the current limit. Both these amendments are effective as of April 1, 2022. One of the more progressive changes arises from H.B. 2519, which opens the door for cannabis retail delivery services directly to the consumer.
H.B. 3000 omnibus bill makes significant changes to the Oregon cannabis laws by authorizing OLCC to regulate artificially further derived cannabinoids and prevent hemp products with THC over the federally allowed 0.3 percent from being sold by prohibiting anyone who is not a licensed cannabis retailer from selling industrial hemp product to consumers.
The amended laws and regulations will become effective throughout 2022 and 2023.
Vermont: Vermont has taken another step into the recreational market after its Cannabis Control Board (CCB) recently issued its first retail cannabis cultivation license.
According to WCAX, an indoor cultivator in Rutland County was approved Monday, and the CCB expects to approve several more applications in the near future.
“We expect to license another handful of people next week,” CCB Chair James Pepper told the publication. “You know we can’t issue licenses until we have the staff in place to ensure that we are giving licenses to the right people and have the team in place that can ensure compliance with our regulations.”
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