A six-member committee of state lawmakers met late Wednesday into early Thursday to recommend a slew of changes to cannabis law as well as a ban on intoxicating hemp, including hemp-derived 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 deal across chambers.
All of the members of the House Democratic caucus joined several House GOP members in voting against it.
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.
But the Senate could return for session as soon as early December, Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
The legislature has 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 next year most recently has caused strife for the state’s regulation of it.
SB 56 puts limits on how potent THC products can be but permits Ohioans to share with each other. It also 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.
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