The sponsors of Virginia's bills to establish a legal recreational cannabis market are urging their fellow lawmakers to vote down the governor's proposed amendments when the General Assembly reconvenes this week.
The week before, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) put forward a package of changes to the cannabis sales legislation—among them a six-month delay to the market launch, higher tax rates, and new criminal penalties for cannabis consumers.
Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) and Del. Paul Krizek (D), who sponsored the Senate and House versions of the legislation respectively, both said they want their colleagues to vote against the amendments when the legislature meets again on Wednesday—even if doing so puts the bill at risk of a veto from Spanberger once it returns to her desk.
“While the governor and I share the goal of establishing a safe, regulated cannabis market, we differ on how best to achieve it,” Aird said “The substitute moves Virginia in the wrong direction and disregards years of data-driven, bipartisan work and established best practices. For that reason, I will be recommending its rejection.”
“As our conversations continue, I urge the governor to reconsider provisions that reintroduce punitive measures undermining the intent of legalization, shift critical elements of the framework into an uncertain regulatory process, and remove essential supports for impact licensees.”
Krizek pointed out that “a few years ago the legislature took bipartisan steps to end racially discriminatory marijuana policing here in Virginia.”
“But, unfortunately, and probably not intentionally as she has not been involved in this years-long process,” he said, “the governor’s proposed amendments would repeal a number of those decriminalization laws and undermine what has been a thorough, thoughtful, balanced process of drafting this legislation with community and stakeholder engagement that moved us toward this more fair and responsive cannabis regulatory framework.”
“When we legalized cannabis it was with a recognition of the disproportionate harm caused by the war on cannabis, particularly among Black families,” the House lawmaker said. “This bill was intentional in recognizing that, but much of that intentionality is lost with these many amendments.”
In a separate interview with WTOP radio, Krizek said he had anticipated some of the governor's amendments following a meeting with her earlier in the month, but was “surprised” by others that had never come up during their conversation.
He said his primary concern was the “pretty draconian penalties” Spanberger proposed adding to the bill. He also noted that because she submitted a full substitute version of the legislation rather than individual severable amendments, the House and Senate are forced to accept or reject the package in its entirety rather than weighing each change on its own.
If the legislature rejects the proposal on Wednesday and the governor then vetoes the original bill, lawmakers would need to start fresh with new legislation in the 2027 session.
In the same radio interview, Krizek described the governor as “very open to dialogue and compromise.”
“We can do that in next session. We can pass the bill that we know she’s going to sign, and let her administration know that I’m willing to work with her and make it happen,” he said. “We’ll keep meeting, and we will take up a lot of these suggestions that she has in her version of it, and see what we can agree to.”
On the question of Spanberger's proposed criminal penalties, Krizek said “I’m not too sanguine about going backwards in that respect, but I do think that it’s just a matter of negotiating with her and explaining where we’re at and why.”
He also said on Tuesday that he is “hopeful that with more discussion and negotiation we can find a compromise that will maintain” a balance between justice and public safety.
A spokesperson for the governor told The Richmond Times-Dispatch that she is “committed to working with patrons to finish the work,” without directly addressing the outlet's question about whether she would veto the original bill if lawmakers sent it back to her this week.
In response to pushback from bill sponsors and advocates over her proposed amendments, Spanberger said the changes stemmed from conversations she had with leaders of states that have already launched adult-use cannabis markets.
Virginia has permitted personal marijuana possession and home cultivation since 2021, though former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed two separate bills that would have given consumers legal access to a regulated adult-use retail market.
Below are the central provisions of the cannabis bills—SB 542 and HB 642—as passed by lawmakers, along with the governor's proposed changes:
- As passed, the bill would allow adults to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single transaction, or an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as determined by regulators—an increase over the current 1-ounce limit. The governor, however, wants the amount increased to only 2 ounces.
- Under the legislature's version, legal sales could begin on January 1, 2027, but the governor is proposing to push that date back to July 1, 2027.
- The legislation as passed imposes a 6 percent excise tax on cannabis sales and a 5.3 percent retail sales and use tax, and allows municipalities to set an additional local tax of up to 3.5 percent. The governor's plan closely mirrors this, but would raise the excise tax to 8 percent starting July 1, 2029.
- Under the bill as approved by lawmakers, revenue would be distributed to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund (30 percent), early childhood education (40 percent), the Department of Behavioral & Developmental Health Services (25 percent), and public health initiatives (5 percent). The governor, however, wants to direct all revenue into the general fund while earmarking it “for purposes such as early childhood education, behavioral health, public health awareness, prevention, treatment, and recovery services, workforce development, reentry, indigent criminal defense, and targeted reinvestment in historically disadvantaged communities.”
- The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would be responsible for licensing and regulating the new industry, and would also assume oversight of hemp, which is currently handled by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
- Local governments would not be permitted to opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate within their jurisdictions.
- Cannabis delivery services would be permitted.
- Individual serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with a maximum of 100 mg THC per package.
- The governor is proposing to reclassify public marijuana use from a civil violation carrying a $25 fine to a class 4 criminal misdemeanor. She also wants possession by anyone under 21 to be treated as a class 1 misdemeanor, subject to a mandatory minimum fine of $500 or 50 hours of community service, along with a driver's license suspension of at least six months. Illegal sale or distribution of 50 pounds or more of marijuana would become a class 2 felony punishable by life in prison.
- The governor's amendments would eliminate support for the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund.
- Existing medical cannabis operators could transition into the adult-use market by paying a $10 million licensing conversion fee.
- Cannabis businesses would be required to establish labor peace agreements with their workers.
- The legislature's version directed a legislative commission to study the addition of on-site consumption licenses and microbusiness cannabis event permits that would allow licensees to sell at venues such as farmers markets or pop-up locations, but the governor is proposing to strike that language.
Spanberger also put forward significant amendments to a separate bill that would offer resentencing relief to those with prior marijuana convictions.
The governor also signed several additional cannabis reform measures this week, including legislation to safeguard the parental rights of marijuana users and allow patients to access medical cannabis while in hospitals.
