Virginia Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Sales Legalization And Resentencing Bills

Virginia lawmakers have approved a bill to legalize marijuana sales, as well as separate legislation to provide a pathway for resentencing of past cannabis convictions.

On Wednesday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed the marijuana sales legislation from Del. Paul Krizek (D) in a 16-6 vote. This comes about a week after a similar measure advanced through a Senate panel.

The Transportation and Public Safety Subcommittee had advanced the legislation with an amendment earlier in the day by a 5-2 vote.

Krizek’s bill, HB 642, largely aligns with recommendations released last month by the legislature’s Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market.

Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021, Virginia lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market—only to have those efforts consistently stalled under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by the legislature.

Under the measure as approved, adult-use cannabis sales could begin on November 1. That’s shorter timeline compared to the Senate companion, which calls for sales to start on January 1, 2027.

The subcommittee on Wednesday adopted a substitute version of the bill that changes several key details, including by adjusting tax rates and reducing the conversion fee that current medical cannabis businesses would need to pay in order to serve the recreational market.

Here are the key details of the Virginia House marijuana sales legalization legislation as amended:

• Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as determined by regulators.
• The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and regulation of the new industry. Its board of directors would have the authority to control possession, sale, transportation, distribution, delivery and testing of marijuana.
• There would be a six percent excise tax on the sale of marijuana products, and they would also be subject to the state’s 5.3 percent retail sales and use tax. Local governments could levy an additional 3.5 percent tax.
• Tax revenue would be split between the costs of administering and enforcing the state’s marijuana system, a new Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, pre-kindergarten programs, substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs and public health programs such as awareness campaigns designed to prevent drug-impaired driving and discourage underage consumption.
• Local governments could not opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area.
• Delivery services would be allowed.
• Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg THC per package.
• Existing medical cannabis operators could enter the adult-use market if they pay a $5 million licensing conversion fee.
• Cannabis businesses would have to establish labor peace agreements with workers.
• A legislative commission would be directed to study adding on-site consumption licenses and microbusiness cannabis event permits that would allow licensees to conduct sales at venues like farmers markets or pop-up locations. It would also investigate the possibility of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority becoming involved in marijuana regulations and enforcement.

Over in the Senate, a measure to legalize marijuana sales that’s being sponsored by Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D), SB 542, moved through the Senate Courts of Justice Committee last week. However, it was amended in a way that drew criticism from advocates over changes that would impose new penalties on certain cannabis-related activities such as underage possession and unlicensed cultivation of marijuana that could carry the threat of jail time.

A coalition of reform groups has since sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, where the measure was transmitted, imploring members to roll back those amendments.

Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee on Wednesday also passed a bill, SB 62, from Sen. Louise Lucas (D) that would create a process by which people who are incarcerated or on community supervision for certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences.

The panel passed the measure in a 10-4 vote.

On the Assembly side, a companion version of the resentencing legislation, HB 26 from Del. Rozia Henson (D), advanced through the Appropriations Committee in a 16-6 vote on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the General Government and Capital Outlay Subcommittee approved the measure in a 3-1 vote.

The bill applies to people whose convictions or adjudications are for conduct that occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect.

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Separately, the Virginia Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to provide legal protections for hospital workers to facilitate the use of medical marijuana for patients with terminal illnesses in their facilities, so long as cannabis is federally rescheduled.

SB 332 would build upon existing state law protecting health professionals at hospices and nursing facilities that assist terminally ill patients in utilizing medical cannabis treatment. Those protections would be expanded to hospital workers.