House negotiators led by Majority Leader Jason Osborne offered to back the Senate’s marijuana legalization bill if the Senate accepted four significant changes, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. The proposal would ease possession thresholds and trim the wholesale tax in a bid to get a deal across the finish line.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, said he made the compromise pitch after reviewing the reasons the House last week soundly rejected the Senate plan by a vote of 252-117.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
Under the offer, possession of up to 2 ounces of cannabis would be subject to a small fine rather than the criminal threshold in the Senate bill, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. That change would also allow a medically eligible passenger in a moving vehicle to consume an edible. Another change would cut the tax charged at the wholesale level.
A 15% franchise tax or fee charged at the wholesale level under the Senate bill would be cut to 12.5%.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
Osborne laid out the path to winning over reluctant House members, telling the New Hampshire Union Leader: “There are three buckets of votes to go from no to yes” for the Senate bill, Osborne said.
State Rep. Anita Burroughs, the ranking Democratic negotiator, agreed these were the major sticking points, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. The most significant change would give a competitive advantage to the three nonprofit alternative treatment centers if they applied to become for-profit retail franchises. The compromise underscored how eager House leaders were to reach a deal before the conference deadline.
The offer revealed the desire of House party leaders to get something over the finish line in the coming days.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
Osborne also explained the trade-off behind raising the decriminalization limit, telling the New Hampshire Union Leader that “This was a way to give those members what they are looking for without changing the effective date of the legalization.”
Senate President Jeb Bradley, who opposes legalization, said it would take time to consider the changes, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported, and the conference committee faced a deadline of late Thursday afternoon to reach an agreement. For nearly two decades the House had routinely passed legalization bills only to see them die in the Senate, and the article noted the issue had taken on added stakes with Gov. Chris Sununu set to leave office at year’s end.
Osborne framed the higher possession limit as a concession that kept the legalization timeline intact, a point he returned to as negotiators weighed the package. He described the change as a way to satisfy reluctant members without delaying the program.
“This was a way to give those members what they are looking for without changing the effective date of the legalization,” Osbor
the New Hampshire Union Leader
The marijuana debate carried added stakes with Gov. Chris Sununu, the first New Hampshire governor to back the concept of legalization, set to leave office at year’s end. Both Republicans running to succeed him opposed legalization, while the three Democratic contenders supported it.
Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader.
