A bill to legalize the sale of cannabis in Vermont appears to be dead for the year. Four state representatives told Seven Days Monday night that the bill, S.54, has run out of time to pass the House in the current session, which is scheduled to adjourn at the end of the week.
“This was never on our must-pass list for this year,” said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero), who confirmed the bill’s demise. “I’ve always said that careful exploration of policy takes precedence.”
Though the personal use and cultivation of marijuana has been legal in Vermont since last July, retail sales remain prohibited. In March, the Senate passed S.54, which would implement a tax-and-regulate system by April 2021. The bill was marooned in the House Government Operations Committee for weeks and only recently moved to the House Ways and Means Committee.
“My own take: We got the bill about a week ago,” said Rep. Scott Beck (R-St. Johnsbury), a member of Ways and Means and a supporter of S.54. “There are so many layers in the bill. I felt that it required a lot of time.”
Government Operations Committee chair Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford), whose committee approved the bill last week on a 10-1 vote, noted Monday that S.54 “would have had to get out of [Ways and Means] today” to have a chance at final passage. “We had a conversation about a number of questions they had,” Copeland Hanzas continued. “None seemed insurmountable. If we had another week, they could have been worked out.”
Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover), a member of Ways and Means, said he would have preferred to postpone adjournment if necessary to get the bill across the finish line. “If we want to completely abandon our agenda, sure, we can adjourn on Friday,” he said.
Since this is the first year of a two-year legislative session, the House can pick up any bill in 2020 where it was left off this year. “We’ll be able to move quickly” next year, Speaker Johnson said.
She cited two concerns that the Ways and Means Committee could not overcome in the brief time available: First, the version of the bill approved by the Government Operations Committee called for spending on education, prevention and regulation before the state would have begun collecting revenue. And second, the fee structure was not set in the bill.
According to Johnson, seven House committees would have had to weigh in on the bill before it reached the House floor. Lawmakers also had to consider Gov. Phil Scott’s demands. He wanted guaranteed money for anti-drug education and prevention, a system that would make communities opt in to retail sales, and some form of roadside testing for cannabis.
There were certainly numerous obstacles. But until Monday, House leadership had been saying that final passage this year was still possible. That view seems to have been retroactively amended.
A delay until next year “makes no sense from a policy perspective,” said Dave Silberman, a Middlebury attorney and advocate of a tax-and-regulate system. “All of Gov. Scott’s concerns had been addressed in a good faith way. And here we are at the goal line, and it’s gone.”
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
I’ll be voting and so will my friends, our representatives are not representing us. It is unconscionable to shut out Vermonters while millions of people surrounding our state and across the world get to enjoy all the benefits, not to mention tax dollars, of legalized weed.
I think it is a great decision. Finally, a measured approach to such a significant policy change. I wish this caution was on display more with other controversial bills.
Vermont was once a progressive state and that’s certainly not the case anymore. I guess we’ll just have to get by on the revenues from booze and tobacco products. How to talk-debate something into the ground,ugh.
I wonder which “7 committees” Speaker Johnson believes still need to weigh in on the bill, after *8* committees already have this year (Government Operations, Judiciary, Healthcare, Transportation, Human Services, Commerce, Natural Resources, and General).
(There are only 14 committees in the House.)
>>> the bill has run out of time to pass the House in the current session, which is scheduled to adjourn at the end of the week.
Wait… what? They are only going to come to work FOUR MONTHS out the year, and they are getting paid the rest of the year to do NOTHING ??? Plus a bonus of $125 for every day they show up to work, ON TOP of their salary? To sit around on their butts and run this economy into the ground? Good lord… maybe we need a new political party comprised of people who are actually willing to work for the public, instead of this band of virtual pirates intent on looting the treasury. This is absolutely disgusting.
_____
>>> “This was never on our must-pass list for this year,” said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson. “I’ve always said that careful exploration of policy takes precedence.”
The arrogance, spite and shameless contempt for human rights is palpable here. Too bad the legislature was not EQUALLY careful to “explore” five thousand years of cannabis history and medicinal applications before it enacted PROHIBITION — destroying countless innocent lives with malicious prosecution, wasting millions of dollars, and depriving us of a dietary supplement which prevents cancer. Ah well, the hypocrisy and duplicity just never ends when you’re dealing with corrupt, self-serving career politicians who are absolutely determined to maintain the status quo for as long as possible.
Done for the year???? Its MAY!!!! What are these jokers doing for the next 7 months?
I agree with Dave Meek and GW42. I mean really, who do these part time legislators who work 18 weeks at over 40 hours per week, not to mention the travel time to and from and away from their families for $12,732 ($707.36 per week for 18 weeks of budgeted work) think they are??? When you factor in the per diem that lawmakers are provided, (Member receive $115 for lodging if a room is rented. Members also receive $74 for meals, regardless of whether they stay overnight or not), why they practically are robbing us blind! I mean it’s more than minimum wage for those 18 weeks and for what?? To sit around and talk and debate and discuss and compromise and make laws that are supposed to solve our problems? I mean I’m sure they can find another job for those other 34 weeks. Of course their are employers who are willing to pay for someone to be gone for 18 weeks a year. I for one can’t wait to see Meek on my next ballot because clearly he’s got the solutions. To everything. (Snark)
Disgusting…. Apparently our reps can’t get out done what needs to be done in their allotted time. I think they should stay in session until they complete their work instead of kicking the can down the road, again. How many years do we need to study and procrastinate this. Send the bill to the governor without the stupid spit test stipulation and over ride his inevitable veto. Why do we have such a problem. It’s like reinventing the wheel. Follow what other states are doing successfully, build on it and get on with life.