Senate passes S-278 after amending outdoor cultivator fees and tenant-consumption language

The Vermont Senate completed third reading and passed S-278, a bill adjusting cannabis licensing and related provisions. On the floor, a senator offered an amendment to better align outdoor cultivation fees with productive capacity — proposing a ratio (roughly 1:4) and, in one version, cutting outdoor fees by 50% to avoid penalizing seasonal outdoor farmers. That fee reduction was conditioned in the amendment on an appropriation to cannabis regulation.

Floor debate included committee straw polls reported in favor in both finance and appropriations committees for the updated language. Senators discussed landlord–tenant intersections with cannabis consumption; one floor amendment proposed to disallow prohibiting cannabis consumption inside a rental unit "within the four walls," except for "lighted cannabis" (floor language as offered), prompting questions about federal subsidized-housing rules and a short recess to consult counsel.

Supporters framed the fee change as a correction to align costs with yield differences between indoor and outdoor cultivation. One proponent said the change was informed by the cannabis control board report and a committee straw poll. Opponents and skeptics raised budgetary concerns and cautioned that conditional appropriations and federal lease law could limit state action on consumption rules in federally subsidized housing. The Senate adopted the floor amendments and passed S-278 on a recorded floor vote.