Members of the Home and Senate have accredited laws, Home Invoice 556 and Senate Invoice 516, implementing a voter-approved referendum legalizing the manufacturing, sale, and use of hashish.
The payments set up rules licensing hashish producers, retailers, testing amenities, and lounges (on-site consumption amenities). Provisions within the laws allow current medical hashish dispensaries to use for twin licensure to promote to the adult-use market starting on July 1st. (Regulators would wish to start issuing licenses to new retailers by January 1, 2024.)
The payments additionally enhance the quantity of hashish that certified sufferers could possess and likewise lets them develop as much as 4 vegetation at house. Neither invoice consists of provisions explicitly defending staff from being sanctioned by their employers for his or her off-the-job hashish use.
The 2 payments impose completely different tax charges on grownup use gross sales. The Home invoice proposes an preliminary tax charges of six p.c on hashish merchandise, whereas the Senate model imposes a 9 p.c tax. The Senate invoice additionally permits localities to impose extra taxes, whereas the Home model doesn’t.
Variations within the two payments’ language will seemingly have to be addressed in a convention committee earlier than being superior to the Governor’s desk.
Voters in November overwhelmingly accredited a referendum (Query 4) directing state lawmakers to determine guidelines and rules governing the manufacturing and sale of hashish to adults. By approving Query 4, voters additionally triggered the enactment of separate, complementary laws (HB 837), which allows to adults to own as much as 1.5 ounces of hashish and/or 12 grams of hashish concentrates with no penalty starting in July. The legislation additionally permits adults to home-cultivate as much as two vegetation in a non-public residence.