An Ohio House committee has adopted a number of major changes to a Senate bill that would make sweeping adjustments to the state’s adult-use marijuana legalization law.
The action by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday comes as state lawmakers weigh a handful of separate proposals that would revise the voter-approved system. The panel’s move is aimed at working toward a single piece of consensus legislation.
“Obviously we’re still in committee,” Rep. Brian Stewart (R) said at the hearing, “and we understand there may be other amendments sought, but I think this is getting us to a single vehicle.”
The newly amended bill, SB 56, will remain before the House Judiciary Committee as members continue to hammer out issues around criminal penalties, tax revenue allocation, allowable products and other issues addressed in the legislation.
Changes approved at Wednesday’s hearing roll back some of the strict limits in SB 56 as passed by the Senate in February, taking language from separate cannabis measures in the House and Senate, Stewart told colleagues.
“What we’re doing is essentially taking House Bill 160 and putting that into Senate Bill 56,” he said. “We’ve also largely taken Senate Bill 86 and put that into Senate Bill 56 as well.”
Drug reform advocates have criticized both SB 56 and its House counterpart, HB 160, as restrictive measures that would undermine the will of voters who passed the state’s legalization law in 2023.
SB 86, meanwhile, is a separate bill that would set regulations on intoxicating hemp products.
Stewart said Wednesday’s committee changes were meant to reflect feedback from interested parties and public comment.
“We believe this is a step in the direction of listening to a lot of the committee testimony that we’ve heard [and] a lot of the interested party meetings that we’ve had,” he said.
The new changes, as explained by Stewart, would remove the bill’s earlier criminal penalty for sharing marijuana or intoxicating hemp products among adults, provided that the sharing takes place on private property.
“If you’re able to use on a property,” the lawmaker explained, “you would be able to share with other folks as well.”
Certain outdoor concert venues would also be exempt from laws against open consumption provided they have separate smoking and vaping areas.
The amendment also removed a provision that would have created a mandatory minimum sentence for someone caught consuming marijuana in the passenger seat of a vehicle.
Notably, THC-infused beverages containing up to five milligrams of THC could be carried in stores statewide rather than just in dispensaries. A $3.50 per gallon tax would be levied on THC beverages.
A 10 percent tax on marijuana products in the bill would also apply to intoxicating hemp products.
While especially high-potency marijuana products would still be forbidden under the amended bill, regulators at the Division of Marijuana Control could by rule increase the allowable potency above the initial 70-percent THC cap.
Licensed dispensaries would also be able to sell and transfer marijuana to other license holders.
Other changes would increase the amount of tax revenue going to municipalities that host cannabis businesses, upping it to 25 percent of state cannabis revenue for a period of seven years.
That’s a higher amount than was contemplated in any other proposed legislation, Stewart emphasized.
“The Senate’s version of the bill was zero percent. The governor’s introduced version of the bill was zero percent,” he said, adding that HB 160 itself initially set a 20-percent allocation for five years. “We have increased that to 25 percent over seven years.”
In March, a survey of 38 municipalities by the Ohio State University’s (OSU) Moritz College of Law found that local leaders were “unequivocally opposed” to earlier proposals that would have stripped the planned funding.
Other changes in the amendment increase the allowable number of marijuana retailers statewide to 400 and revise the required distance between stores from half a mile to one mile.
Stewart said he hoped the Senate would either concur with the changes or that lawmakers could “maybe have a short conference committee” to hammer out any remaining details.
Panel member Rep. Jamie Callender (R), a supporter of cannabis reform who’d previously pushed back on SB 56 as too restrictive, said he welcomed the committee amendment but said he hoped to see further changes made.
“I’m not going to object to it,” Callender said. “I’m going to ask that we accept that today with the very clear understanding that there will be some amendments drafted and considered [at] the next meeting.”
“A number of the things that Rep. Stewart outlined are things that we’ve discussed over the last few weeks, and I’m greatly heartened to see that they were were seriously considered,” he continued, though he also pointed out that he and others have had little time to review Stewart’s proposed changes prior to discussing it at the hearing.
“We’ve had an hour and eight minutes to review 400 pages,” Callender said. “It looks like a lot of those issues were addressed in this, but that’s a concern.”
During public testimony before the committee earlier this month, members heard comments from advocacy groups, local governments, businesses and individuals who spoke out against the proposal.
Meanwhile in Ohio, adults will soon be able to buy more than double the amount of marijuana that they are currently allowed to purchase per day, with state officials determining that the market can sustainably supply both medical cannabis patients and adult consumers.
In a notice released last week, the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) said that its priority “continues to be ensuring medical marijuana patients have adequate supply and maintain their medical marijuana card, and the Division knows that licensees share that priority.”
“Since non-medical cannabis sales began in August 2024, the market has demonstrated the ability to support both medical marijuana patients and non-medical consumers alike,” it said.
Accordingly, DCC said that, effective June 4, adults will be able to buy up to 2.5 ounces of flower cannabis per day, a significant increase compared to the current daily transaction limit of one ounce. This will make it so consumers could buy marijuana in an amount that matches the 2.5 ounce possession limit under state statute.
A budget measure from Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is also a potential vehicle for changes to the state’s marijuana law. As proposed, it would remove local tax allocations of medical marijuana revenue and double the state cannabis tax rate to 20 percent—though legislative leaders have said they will be removing the tax increases.
Meanwhile, DeWine in March announced his desire to reallocate marijuana tax revenue to support police training, local jails and behavioral health services. He said funding police training was a top priority, even if that wasn’t included in what voters passed in 2023.
Ohio’s Senate president has also pushed back against criticism of the Senate bill, claiming the legislation does not disrespect the will of the electorate and would have little impact on products available in stores.
Separately in the legislature this month, Sens. Steve Huffman (R) and Shane Wilkin (R) introduced legislation that would impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products and limit their sales to adult-use dispensaries—not convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations
DeWine has repeatedly asked lawmakers to regulate or ban intoxicating hemp products such as delta-8 THC.
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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
An Ohio House committee has adopted a number of major changes to a Senate bill that would make sweeping adjustments to the state’s adult-use marijuana legalization law. The action by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday comes as state lawmakers weigh a handful of separate proposals that would revise the voter-approved system. The panel’s move Read More
