A six-member committee of state lawmakers met late Wednesday into early Thursday to recommend a slew of changes to cannabis statute as well as a ban on intoxicating hemp, including hemp-derived THC and CBD beverages.
The Ohio House then voted 52-34, around 1 a.m., to send Senate Bill 56 back to that chamber for one last vote on what looks to be a largely done deal, after three years of on-again, off-again negotiations.
“We moved a long way from, this was going to be done at 8:30 a.m.,” Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) said. “It’s after midnight. A lot of accommodations were made to get to the point where it was the will of our caucus to proceed.”
All of the House Democratic caucus joined several House GOP members in voting against it.
“At the end of the day, we are in the minority,” Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) said. “This is a gerrymandered state, and I do what I can to make bad bills less bad. We made that bill less bad, and what they did was make it even worse.”
Still, the legislature ultimately left for Thanksgiving without sending Gov. Mike DeWine the latest version of the long debated and heavily amended SB 56—since the Senate adjourned hours before the conference committee convened. The Senate could return for session next month, Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
Lawmakers have gone back and forth over modifying recreational marijuana laws since it became legal for Ohioans 21 and older in December 2023. Efforts to regulate mostly unregulated hemp have been rolled into that debate, though a federal hemp ban taking effect late next year has most recently caused strife.
SB 56 now mirrors that ban on THC beverages, but other “intoxicating” hemp could be banned much sooner.
“We had already whittled down most retailers where those could be sold,” Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said. “They’re going to have the 90 days of runway that’s in the bill.”
Among many other measures, SB 56 distributes more than $80 million in tax revenue over the next two fiscal years through what’s known as the Host Community Cannabis Fund, which would go to cities and towns with dispensaries.
Between the House and Senate, dozens of other unrelated bills got a vote earlier Wednesday in a marathon session.
