New Hampshire House Votes To Table Marijuana Legalization Bill That Passed Senate, Potentially Killing Reform For Years To Come

New Hampshire’s House of Representatives has voted narrowly to table a Senate-passed bill that would have legalized and regulated marijuana in the state—effectively killing the prospects for enacting the reform this year and potentially for the foreseeable future.

Ahead of an election this November that will replace outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu (R) and reshape the legislature, the measure’s failure could delay the Granite State’s adoption of legalization indefinitely.

The House’s move to table the bill, HB 1633, came hours after the Senate approved the final version of the legislation, negotiated earlier this month in a bicameral conference committee, on a 14–10 vote.

The motion to table passed the House 178–173. Almost immediately afterward, supporters attempted to undo the tabling action, but that effort was defeated 189–162.

If enacted, the legislation would have made New Hampshire the 25th U.S. state to legalize cannabis for adults.

Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), who spoke out against House members accepting the negotiated version of the bill, described the proposal, which would have legalized cannabis sales through a heavily state-regulated system of franchise stores, as “the most intrusive, big-government marijuana program proposed anywhere in the country.”

“I must admit, 1633 is proving to be a pretty stubborn bill that refuses to die,” he said. “I, like many in this room, seriously want to legalize cannabis sales in New Hampshire. But the fact is, despite the recent tweaks, this remains a terrible bill.”

Some legalization advocates said they were disappointed to see pro-legalization lawmakers vote to scuttle the bill.

“It’s a sad day to see legalizers kill legalization,” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment in an email after the House action. “While HB 1633 was an imperfect bill, it is far easier to revise a law than to pass a bill from scratch—especially if the next governor is a prohibitionist.”

Both leading Republican candidates running to replace Sununu have said they would oppose legalization, though the top Democratic contender says she would support it.

“Those who voted to kill HB 1633 are condemning hundreds of Granite Staters to arrests and life-altering convictions for bringing home a product that is legal in every one of New Hampshire’s neighbors,” O’Keefe said.

Thursday’s move by House lawmakers to kill the bill came despite a change of heart by one House member who, as of last week, was one of the most vocal critics of the Senate-made changes to the bill: its original sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R).

As discussion of the measure began, Layon encouraged passage of the negotiated bill.

“While my ideal model looks different, this conference report has my full support,” she said. “We have the opportunity today to make history as the 25th state to legalize cannabis.”

Though she too disagreed with some of the bill’s provisions, Layon emphasized that there would be opportunities next session to address those issues.

“We have the chance to get the ball rolling in New Hampshire,” she said. “Most of this bill won’t go into effect until 2026, which gives us more time to fight about some of the challenges and some of the concerns we have about this bill.”

Earlier, on the Senate floor, lawmakers voted to approve the measure despite some members raising similar concerns.

“I can certainly support it,” Sen. Shannon Chandley (D) said of the compromise bill ahead of the Senate floor vote. “At this point, it’s not perfect. We know that whenever we pass a major piece of legislation, it is seldom perfect.”

“We may need to revisit this, but right now, one of the things that I think is most important is that this bill does address what the people of our state want,” Chandley continued. “More than 70 percent of our residents do not believe cannabis should be illegal.”

Sununu, for his part, told a local reporter ahead of Thursday’s votes that while he still intended to “go through the final final bill,” he believed it met most of the requirements he expressed to lawmakers this session.

“I don’t see any red flags there, to be sure,” the governor told WMUR.

Ahead of Thursday’s floor votes—the final day for lawmakers to sign off on conference committee bills—some House lawmakers who supported the legalization measure openly doubted whether it would have the votes to pass. Other representatives said that while they favored the policy change in concept, they intended to vote against the bill because of specific changes made in the Senate.

Already there was tension between the two chambers on the issue. The House last month rejected an earlier Senate-passed version of the bill that largely resembles the current measure, sending the measure to the conference committee and raising questions on whether members could reach a deal.

Based largely on language passed last month by the Senate, the revised measure, HB 1633, would allow 15 stores to open statewide beginning in 2026 through a novel state-run franchise system. Though stores would be privately run, the government would oversee operations, including setting final prices on products. Purchases would incur a 15 percent “franchise fee”—effectively a tax—that would apply to both adult-use and medical marijuana purchases.

Marijuana possession wouldn’t become legal until 2026, once the state’s licensed market is up and running. That same year, possession of up to two ounces of marijuana would become fully legal.

In the meantime, possession of up to one ounce of cannabis would carry a $100 maximum civil fine—an increase from the state’s current law that decriminalizes up to three-quarters of an ounce—effective immediately on enactment.

The proposal would limit each municipality to only a single cannabis retail establishment unless it’s home to more than 50,000 people, though only two cities in the state, Manchester and Nashua, meet that threshold. Local voters would also need to pre-approve the industry in order for businesses to open in that jurisdiction.

Home cultivation of cannabis for personal use would remain illegal, and the state’s Liquor Commission would have the authority to enforce that provision.

Smoking or vaping marijuana in public would be a violation on the first offense and an misdemeanor for second or subsequent offenses within five years, a charge that could carry jail time. Consuming cannabis in other forms in public—for example, drinking a THC-infused beverage—would carry no punishment, unlike open container rules around alcohol.

For someone driving a car, the bill would outlaw consumption of cannabis by any means. Passengers would be forbidden from smoking or vaping cannabis. Driving under the influence of marijuana would remain a crime regardless of where the cannabis was consumed.

By contrast, the version of the bill passed by the House in April would have legalize through a so-called “agency store” model preferred by sponsor Layon and colleagues in that chamber. Under that approach, the state would oversee a system of privately run stores, with strict limits on marketing and advertising. That version also included a higher personal possession limit of four ounces, and medical marijuana would be been exempt from the state surcharge. Further, personal possession of two ounces of cannabis would have become legal immediately.

Most legalization and criminal justice advocates preferred the House bill, though they did welcome some licensing provision changes in the Senate version.

And while Layon herself was initially inclined to oppose the negotiated bill, she told Marijuana Moment that she eventually warmed to it after more closely evaluating the Senate changes and recognizing that the franchise approach might still be revised before the market’s launch.

“As we were working through it and talking to more people, we didn’t have much time between when the Senate changed the bill and when we had to vote on it,” she said of her earlier opposition. “Now, with that clarity of time, I realize that the Senate made it easier to change.”

If the bill had cleared both the Senate and House on Thursday, the next hurdle for the proposal would have been Sununu, who’s said that he personally opposes legalization but sees the reform as inevitable.

Though the governor’s office hasn’t replied to multiple requests for comment from Marijuana Moment in recent weeks, Sununu has previously said that he would accept legislation based on the Senate-passed version of the bill—provided there were no major adjustments.

In the interview earlier this week, the governor seemed to speak favorably of lawmakers’ approach to the policy change, contrasting it to other state cannabis systems.

New Hampshire “tried to take into consideration that if we’re going to do it, develop the best system not just in the region, but probably in the country,” Sununu said, “and hopefully a system, if it were to go forward, that can be a model that’s built around the concepts of safety and minimizes its access to children.”

He pledge to take “a strong look” at the legislation it reached his desk.

Today @GovChrisSununu discussed the final version of the cannabis legalization bill (HB 1633) up for a vote tomorrow in the @NHHouseofReps & @TheNHSenate. Asked if he will sign it if it reaches his desk, he said: "I'll take a strong look at it, for sure, yeah." #NHPolitics#WMURpic.twitter.com/gdGXXJJxaf

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) June 12, 2024

He criticized the so-called “marijuana mile” in South Berwick, Maine, where he said “there’s a pot shop on every corner, and people don’t like it.” Of Massachusetts, he said there are “billboards all over” that “tout marijuana and how it’s easy access.”

Other states, he claimed have seen cannabis shops open “directly adjacent” to nearby schools, he added, while Vermont and other states that allow home cultivation for personal use “actually encourages a black market.”

Sununu is not seeking reelection this year, which added an additional degree of urgency for some lawmakers who supported legalization. Two top Republican gubernatorial contenders, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and former state Sen. Chuck Morse, have already said they would oppose the reform if elected.

Meanwhile leading Democratic candidate Joyce Craig, a three-term mayor of Manchester whose last term ended in January, recently sent out a press release in favor of legalization.

Lawmakers in the state worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation.

Bicameral lawmakers convened a state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.

The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

Last May, the House defeated marijuana legalization language that was included in a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.

After the Senate rejected the reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.

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Advocates Divided On New Hampshire Marijuana Legalization Bill As Senate-Amended Measure Gets Final House Vote On Thursday

Marijuana reform advocates in New Hampshire are at odds over how they want lawmakers to proceed with a Senate-amended legalization bill that will return the House for a final vote this week. Representatives can choose to accept the Senate amendments—which would advance the measure to Gov. Chris Sununu (R)—vote down the legislation entirely or send it to a bicameral conference committee in an attempt to hammer out a compromise.

A range of issues separate the House- and Senate-passed versions of the bill. Generally the Senate measure takes a more conservative approach, establishing new or harsher criminal penalties for public consumption of marijuana, use in a car—including by passengers—and unintentional sales to a minor. The House version, by contrast, includes a higher possession amount (four ounces instead of the Senate’s two) and would exempt medical marijuana products from a 15 percent state surcharge on cannabis sales.

A number of other topics hang in the balance, including the basic regulatory model for the cannabis industry, how existing medical marijuana businesses could participate in the adult-use market and how many of the legislation’s 15 allowed retailers any one person or entity could control.

In an op-ed published this week in Marijuana Moment, advocates with the state ACLU chapter and the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) who’ve poured hours into lobbying lawmakers on the bill said the current version represents an imperfect but nevertheless important reform in New Hampshire, urging House lawmakers to accept the Senate changes and move the legislation along.

Other advocates, however, as well as the proposal’s lead sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R), say the House shouldn’t sign off on the amendments.

Looming over the disagreement are rumblings that if the House rejects the Senate changes and sends the bill, HB 1633, to a conference committee, Senate President Jeb Bradley (R)—who opposes legalization—would likely appoint prohibitionists to the panel who could effectively quash the plan.

The governor, for his part, has signaled that he would accept the Senate-amended bill but opposed an iteration passed by the House in April. But the Sununu’s term is up next year, and the candidate currently leading in the polls, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R), has said she would opposed legalization if elected.

“The House should not let this opportunity slip away,” wrote advocates in the recent op-ed, including former state Rep. Tim Egan, who led the House Democratic Cannabis Caucus while in office; ACLU of New Hampshire Executive Director Devon Chaffee; and Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for MPP.

“We have advocated for legalization for many years and the Senate bill is far from our model,” their piece says. “But the NH Senate’s HB 1633 is still an important step forward. It would legalize something that over 70 percent of Granite Staters agree should be legal and would prevent further human suffering.”

“With uncertainty on the horizon, including new state senators and a new governor in 2025,” it continues, “it is vitally important that the House seize this opportunity to legalize cannabis and increase freedom.”

Other advocates have sharply disagreed—including the New Hampshire Cannabis Association (NHCann), an organization for which Egan chairs the board.

In an email to supporters last week, NHCann’s founder, Daryl Eames, called the Senate-amended version of the legislation a “Soviet Weed” bill that’s “wrong for New Hampshire,” adding that senators had “warped it beyond recognition.”

Among other changes, the Senate adjustments shifted the bill’s regulatory model to a franchise system, under which the government would control the look, feel and general operations of each retail store, with the state Liquor Commission even having final authority to set prices. Some critics have called for a more free-market model.

“This legislation, as amended, does not serve the interests of New Hampshire residents who are desperate for economic opportunity to improve their lives in the face of soaring costs all around them and instead, creates incredible barriers to entry that serve the wealthy and connected,” Eames said in a statement. “We strongly encourage representatives to stand up for the House’s version of HB 1633 and vote ‘no’ on concurrence.”

Egan, Chaffee and O’Keefe say a House vote against concurrence would likely doom the reform.

“We fear that a committee of conference would kill the bill,” they wrote. “The Senate president has repeatedly made it clear he would prefer HB 1633 die. And under Senate rules, he has complete control over who gets assigned to any committee of conference. If the conference committee does not agree on a new version, the bill dies. Members can refuse to sign a report and kill the bill.”

Senate President Bradley didn’t directly answer a local reporter this week when asked whether the House would be “taking a risk” by sending the bill to a conference committee.

“Well, I expect I would be on a committee of conference to adhere to the Senate position,” he told WMUR, “which is something that I think is much more in line with Gov. Sununu’s position than where the House bill is.”

“We’ll see what happens,” he said.

Regarding the potential for negotiations with the @NHHouseofReps over @TheNHSenate's version of HB 1633 cannabis legalization @SenJeb says: "I expect I would be on a committee of conference to adhere to the senate position…" #NHPolitics#WMURpic.twitter.com/hEIbYxLzNH

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) May 28, 2024

In the State House, however, it’s not just lawmakers opposed to legalization who’d like to see the bill fizzle out. Layon, the sponsor who spent most of this year working to build consensus on her proposal, now says she also wants to see the measure fail.

“I would like to kill my own bill, because this will make things worse,” she told New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) in a report over the weekend. “I’m going to get up and speak against my own bill.”

Others in the House have said Layon isn’t alone in wanting to abandon the bill.

“I think there are already a huge number of Democrats and Republicans who are ready to vote against this bill,” Rep. Anita Burroughs (D), a co-sponsor of the House bill, told NHPR.

“I did kind of a loosey-goosey survey not too long ago, and I found at least 50 of my Democratic colleagues are going to vote to non-concur, and I think there are more Republicans who are going to non-concur,” she added in comments to The Keene Sentinel. “If I was a betting person, I would say a majority are going to non-concur.”

“I will support a committee of conference because if there’s a way we can salvage it, I’m all for it,” Burroughs said, “but frankly, I’m not optimistic.”

O’Keefe at the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project said that rejecting the Senate bill could delay legalization in New Hampshire indefinitely.

“I wonder what path those urging the House not to concur see for legalization if there’s a Gov. Ayotte or Morse?” she told Marijuana Moment, referring to another gubernatorial candidate, former state Sen. Chuck Morse (R), who opposes the reform. “If HB 1633 dies, I see no likelihood of legalization during their administrations—certainly not in their early years. That would mean no protections for child custody, medical care, and professional licensing. That’s a huge gamble.”

“HB 1633 is far better than the status quo for cannabis consumers. It stops citations and arrests, including possible jail time, for possession of up to 2 oz of cannabis starting January 1, 2026,” O’Keefe continued. “It also prevents people from losing their professions, children, and medical care—including possibly their lives if they are denied organ transplants—for responsible cannabis use.

“While I dislike many of the regulatory choices in the Senate version,” she said, “if legal sales are ultimately implemented (in this form or another), it would allow NH cannabis consumers to buy their cannabis much closer to home.”

Burroughs, however, says she’s ready to risk a hard reset on the legalization push.

“For me, I’m willing to take the crapshoot,” she told NHPR, “and hope that we have a governor who is willing to legalize cannabis in a more ‘Live Free or Die’ way.”

Deputy House Majority Leader Fred Doucette (R) wrote recently in an op-ed for the NH Journal that lawmakers should approve the bill, noting that “this may be the last chance we get for years to do it.”

“It’s simple,” Doucette wrote. “We in the House have a ‘binary choice.’ By concurring with the Senate, this policy of legalization goes on to the governor’s desk. If we failed to concur, this will most certainly go to a biased committee of conference where it will certainly die once again.”

He noted that it’s the first session ever in which the Senate has signed off on a legalization proposal.

“No matter what disagreements (and all of us have them) with specifics in this piece of legislation, I offer this,” Doucette wrote: “‘Policy over Perfection.’ Let’s concur and pass the ‘policy’ component of cannabis legalization. With that policy placed into law, we can then address the imperfections we have with this specific piece of legislation.”

Amid the ongoing disagreement, other lawmakers predict this simply may not be the year that New Hampshire legalizes marijuana.

“In all likelihood, cannabis legalization does not happen this year,” Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D), a co-sponsor of the bill, told The Keene Sentinel this week. “I think that’s what people are going to have to come to terms with.”

Sen. Daryl Abbas (R), who chaired a state commission on legalization late last year, worked alongside Bradley in recent weeks to make amendments both lawmakers agreed improved the bill. Asked how he felt about the possibility that the Senate president could ultimately torpedo the plan in a conference committee, Abbas told Marijuana Moment: “I don’t comment on rumors.”

“I will wait and see what the House does,” he added, “but I’m not optimistic this would survive a committee of conference.”

Sununu’s office, for its part, did not respond to a request for comment sent Tuesday asking what the governor would like to see House lawmakers do with the bill.

Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf Cannabis, didn’t say explicitly whether he opposes the bill in its current form, but he told Marijuana Moment in an email this week that “New Hampshire’s cannabis community will certainly not be celebrating if the House concurs with the Senate’s amendments.”

“I think representatives have some very good reasons for being concerned about the Senate’s amendment to HB 1633,” Simon said. “One is that the Therapeutic Cannabis Program will face a very uncertain future if it becomes law. We’ve been trying for months to work out a compromise with legislators, but the Senate’s amendment eliminated key provisions that we considered essential.”

Referring to advocates’ op-ed in favor of the House concurring with the Senate plan, Simon noted he noted that it “acknowledges that the bill contains serious flaws, so it is clear that representatives who support legalization will face a difficult choice on Thursday.”

(Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment’s work via a monthly Patreon pledge.)

In its current version, the proposal would allow 15 franchise stores to open statewide. Purchases would incur a 15 percent “franchise fee”—effectively a tax—that would apply to both adult-use and medical marijuana purchases. Though stores would be privately run, the government would control their look, feel and operations.

The proposal would limit each municipality to only a single cannabis retail establishment unless it’s home to more than 50,000 people, though only two cities in the state, Manchester and Nashua, meet that threshold. Local voters would also need to pre-approve the industry in order for businesses to open in that jurisdiction.

Adults could possess up to two ounces of marijuana. Home cultivation of cannabis for personal use would remain illegal, and the state’s Cannabis Control Commission would have the authority to enforce that provision.

Smoking or vaping marijuana in public would be a violation on the first offense and an misdemeanor for second or subsequent offenses within five years—a charge that could carry jail time. It would also outlaw consumption of cannabis by any means, including edibles, by any driver or passenger of a vehicle. That would also be an unclassified misdemeanor with the potential for jail time.

As passed by the House, the legislation would have legalized through a so-called “agency store” model proposed by Layon, in which the state would oversee a system of privately run stores.

The franchise plan was a reformulation of a more directly state-run retail model first put forth by Sununu, though the governor has said he’ll also support a franchise model. It’s an approach that was first raised last year by a state commission on legalization that ultimately failed at its assignment to develop a legislative proposal.

New Hampshire lawmakers worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation.

Bicameral lawmakers also convened the state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.

The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

Last May, the House defeated marijuana legalization language that was included in a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.

After the Senate rejected the reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

New Hampshire Governor Indicates He Won’t Sign House-Passed Marijuana Legalization Bill Unless Senate Makes Changes

Following the passage of a marijuana legalization bill on Thursday by New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) is signaling that he’s against the legislation in its current form but could still ultimately get on board if changes are made in the Senate.

The comments from the governor’s office came in response to the House’s 239–136 approval of HB 1633, sponsored by Rep. Erica Layon (R). The measure would legalize and regulate marijuana through state-licensed “agency stores,” but Sununu has said he wants to see a state-run or state-franchised model that would give the government control over the look and feel of each store as well as product prices.

“Governor Sununu has been crystal clear about the framework needed for a legalization bill to earn his support, focusing on harm reduction and keeping it out of kids’ hands,” his office said in a statement to local news outlet WMUR after Thursday’s vote. “The legislation passed today doesn’t get us there but the Governor looks forward to working with the Senate to see if we can get it done.”

Layon, the bill’s sponsor, said she’s repeatedly reached out to the Sununu’s office in recent months to discuss provisions of the proposal. But so far she’s been snubbed by the governor, even as his office communicates with other lawmakers about the bill.

“The bill that passed the House reflects the Governor’s guidelines as I understood them, until his last minute embrace of a franchise model,” she told Marijuana Moment on Friday. “I made dozens of attempts to meet with the Governor and his staff to get into the policy details, but the best meeting I achieved was a walk-and-talk with him through the halls of the Capitol.”

The situation has pitted Republicans against Republicans, with Layon and supporters at odds with Sununu and his allies in the Senate. Failure to reach agreement could threaten the legalization bill entirely despite what appears to be majority support for the policy change.

Statement from the office of @GovChrisSununu indicating he wants to see @TheNHSenate go to work on the cannabis legalization bill the @NHHouseofReps approved today rather than simply declare it DOA #NHPolitics#WMURpic.twitter.com/SdBkWOKbq0

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) April 11, 2024

In a choice between the two competing models, a House subcommittee earlier this month rejected a sweeping amendment that would have replaced Layon’s plan with a franchise model. That amendment was offered by subcommittee vice chair Rep. Dan McGuire (R) despite him telling the panel he didn’t entirely agree with the proposed changes.

“We are told from the governor and from our contacts in the Senate that this is what they want: the franchise model,” he said at the time. “We are also told they will not vote for the version the House passed, and we are told that they are either unwilling or incapable of making significant changes in the Senate.”

Sununu’s latest comments suggest he believes the Senate can in fact make those changes.

But Layon now says adjustments backed by Senate Republicans like Sen. Daryl Abbas—who chaired a failed state commission on legalization late last year—may not find support in the House if an amended version of her bill makes it back to the chamber.

“Dozens of House members will not accept the language rejected by the House Finance committee,” she said.

“There is a real danger that the House may not accept what comes back from the Senate,” Layon added, “so I look forward to talking with my colleagues to ensure that anything we receive can pass without a Committee of Conference.”

Layon has spent months workshopping and building support for the plan despite warnings from some in the Senate—most notably Abbas—that her proposal will be dead on arrival unless it includes a state-run franchise system under which the government would control the look, feel and general operations of retail stores.

But House lawmakers have decided to stick with Layon’s approach.

Rep. Chuck Grassie (D) applauded Layon at an earlier subcommittee hearing for what what he called “a Herculean effort…to get the governor and the Senate on board.”

“If the Senate has problems with passing a bill, I don’t see why we have to do their hard work here for them,” Grassie said at the time. “I think they need to debate this. They need to make up their mind on a bill, and they need to send something back to us if we want to see cannabis legalization in the state of New Hampshire.”

—Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Layon has previously told Marijuana Moment that she never expected her proposal to be the only bill introduced this session to legalize marijuana.

“I initially intended that this bill sort of be a counterpoint to what the special committee was going to deliver and what Sen. Abbas was going to introduce,” she said. “The fact that he didn’t introduce it and this is the only shot at legalization this year, I just really wanted to work hard in a good faith effort to get to something that I was comfortable with and that match the requirements of the governor as best I understood them.”

The governor said at a recent event, meanwhile, that he thinks legalization is “inevitable” in New Hampshire, adding that policymakers have “seen the mistakes other states have made so as not to walk down that path.”

“People just want the accessibility for adults, keeping it away from kids,” Sununu said. “If they can meet those rough stipulations, I would sign it, because I think that’s one of the safest systems you’re going to get.”

He added that as a legalization skeptic, he’s better positioned to consider a thoughtful bill.

“There’s no better person to help design a system that could be fraught with problems and risk specifically to kids than the guy that’s most scared of it,” he said.

Last year Sununu said he supported a system of state-run retail stores, but lawmakers on a state study commission last year instead pivoted to the idea of a franchise system, which the governor has said he’s willing to entertain. Officials at the Liquor Commission have said it would be far less costly for private franchisees to build out a system of retail stores than to ask the Liquor Commission to take on that task itself.

Lawmakers worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation.

Bicameral lawmakers also convened the state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.

The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

Last May, the House defeated marijuana legalization language that was included in a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.

After the Senate rejected the reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.