On Thursday, two Hawaii Senate panels approved an expansive bill to legalize adult-use cannabis while consolidating hemp and cannabis regulation under one state agency.
Senate Health and Human Services Committee members voted 3-1 in support of SB 1613 while members of the Judiciary Committee passed it with a split decision of 3 votes each in its favor.
Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), lead sponsor and chair of HHS committee, noted that 86 individuals signed onto support her bill while an equal number opposed it.
Public commenters submitted nearly 300 pages of written testimony; law enforcement groups and religious representatives strongly opposed to legalizing cannabis products; advocates noted their widespread availability both legally as intoxicating hemp-derived products as well as illicit, uncontrolled marijuana products in Hawaii.
If passed into law, this legislation would create the Hawaii Cannabis and Hemp Office to oversee adult-use cannabis, medical cannabis and hemp businesses in Hawaii. Adults 21 or over could possess up to an ounce and five grams of cannabis concentrate respectively for personal use while growing limited amounts at home for personal consumption.
Senate panels advanced the bill after adopting minor technical amendments and including a defective date (procedural way to ensure additional discussion before passing into law).
San Buenaventura said before voting: “This bill is still evolving; everybody would like to add amendments. Let’s see where this goes with all the amendments that both Houses may add later on.”
The joint Senate committee hearing occurred just one week after Hawaii’s House of Representatives decided to delay passage of SB 1613 until next legislative session – effectively killing its progress until then. Even if SB 1613 passes out of committee and goes back into committee in Hawaii’s lower chamber, passage may prove more challenging than initially hoped for there.
House lawmakers’ vote to block House Bill 1246/SB 1613 came shortly after committee approval at an earlier joint hearing, supported by Gov. Josh Green (D). Here is what it proposed:
Create the Hawaii Cannabis and Hemp Office to regulate adult-use cannabis, medical marijuana, hemp businesses. This office would reside under the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs with priority placed upon protecting public health and safety.
Regulators would promulgate rules governing a state cannabis system, issue licenses to businesses and patients registered to purchase, maintain a seed-to-sale tracking system and publish studies and reports regarding various aspects of its implementation.
Interim rules would need to be in place by December 31, 2025 and final rules adopted by December 31st 2030.
An 11-member advisory board would study issues surrounding federal law, patient access and equity. Members include representatives from hemp/marijuana industries; agriculture; public health/safety issues; Native Hawaiian culture and mental/substance abuse treatment services.
As of January 1st 2026, adults 21 or over could possess up to an ounce and five grams of cannabis concentrate.
After January 1st 2026, adults could legally grow and store up to six plants for personal use as well as 10 ounces of homegrown cannabis in their residence; households containing more than two adults could only grow ten plants and two pounds.
Adult-use cannabis sales would be subject to a 14 percent sales tax rate while medical marijuana tax would stay at 4 percent.
30 percent of state revenues would go directly toward funding social equity grants programs after administrative costs are deducted; 10 percent each would go toward public health and education grants and separate public safety grant programs respectively; five percent each would also go into hemp grants for counties, nuisance abatement, money laundering/organized crime enforcement as well as money laundering/organized crime countermeasures by the attorney general’s office and countermoneylaundering efforts at work within communities.
Synthetic or “artificially derived” cannabinoids products would be severely limited, including edibles resembling candy for children as well as having any similarity to people, animals, fruit or cartoon characters.
Packaging must not contain graphics, pictures or multiple colors – medical marijuana must only come packaged in white packaging.
Labels would need to include an easily recognizable symbol for cannabis cultivation. Cultivation could not take place within federal housing, shelters, on-campus housing or hotels as well as in any location prohibited by landlords and homeowners associations.
Landlords could prohibit smoking or vaping marijuana on the property but would generally not prohibit people from possessing non-inhaled cannabis products. Smoking cannabis publicly could result in civil violations with penalties up to $130 or 10 hours of community service being assessed against you as punishment for doing so.
Driving under the influence of marijuana would remain illegal; meanwhile, new penalties would punish passengers caught smoking or vaping with up to $2000 fine for each offense committed on board a moving vehicle.
Open containers would be punished with fines up to $130 or 10 hours of community service; selling cannabis to minors would constitute a misdemeanor offense.
Diverting cannabis from licensed businesses into uncontrolled markets would constitute a Class C felony offense.
Extracting cannabis unlicensedly using butane would constitute a Class C felony; minors possessing up to five grams of concentrate could face charges for possession under five grams and adults possessing over five.
State and local government employees in general could not be fired for engaging in medical or adult-use cannabis outside the workplace or testing positive for marijuana metabolites; exceptions might apply in cases involving collective bargaining agreements, however.
Regulators would license cultivators, processors, retailers, craft dispensaries and independent testing laboratories – with craft dispensaries selling only their own cannabis products.
Under this legislation, licenses would begin being distributed as early as July 1, 2026; dual-use permits allowing medical marijuana businesses to also provide adult use products will likely come out by January 1, 2026.
Licenses would be distributed via random lottery, provided applicants meet certain minimum standards and qualifications. Small businesses, Indigenous farmers and those from areas disproportionately impacted by drug ware would be encouraged to apply.
No individual could hold more than nine licenses (up to three per license class), with independent testing lab owners not eligible to hold interest in other cannabis businesses.
People interested in setting up or operating a small-scale cooperative or craft dispensary cannot have any interest whatsoever in operating any other form of business with other license types.
License applicants would need to reside in Hawaii for at least five years and could only have cannabis-related convictions that have been pardoned or expunged, or sentences completed over 10 years prior.
Regulators could draft rules to authorize special event permits, social consumption and certain activities.
Medical cannabis dispensaries could transform into dual-use (medical and recreational) retail facilities at a cost of $50K per retail location and $25k for each production facility.
State-registered patients and caregivers were permitted to possess up to four ounces of marijuana for personal use; up to 10 plants could be grown per household for cultivation of homegrown cannabis weighing one pound each, for personal consumption; thus providing for two pounds in each homegrown stash total per person per year.
State regulators would grant medical marijuana co-ops up to five patients licenses under state regulation. Such regulations would include requirements regarding security, health and safety issues; advertising/labeling rules; energy/environmental standards compliance requirements and employee training responsibilities among other matters.
All employees working in cannabis businesses would need to be over 21 years of age; anyone under the age of 21 was prohibited from entering retail stores. Businesses would also have to remain at least 750 feet from schools, parks and public housing complexes.
Cultivators would be limited to 3,500 square feet of indoor canopy space and 5,000 square feet of outdoor grow space for cultivation purposes.
Handouts would need to accompany all products sold and must include instructions, warnings about safe usage and potential adverse reactions as well as information on federal prohibition laws that could affect rights such as gun rights, employment benefits or others.
Pesticide use on cannabis products would be overseen by each state Department of Agriculture, while hemp businesses could sell cured marijuana flower that complies with both U.S. Department of Agriculture compliance standards and state rules regarding testing, packaging and labelling.
Aerosol hemp sprays would be prohibited and hemp cultivation would not be allowed within 300 feet of schools, childcare centers and playgrounds, nor within 100 feet of residences that do not belong to its licensees.
Regulators could restrict hemp products that contain THC; specifically tinctures should contain no more than 30 milligrams per package and be sold only to adults 21 or over.
An equitable grants program would support applicants living or doing business in areas which have experienced disproportionate impacts for at least five out of the last 10 years, or companies employing at least half their staff who reside within these zones.
“Disproportionately Impacted Area” refers to communities who experience persistent poverty, medical underserved areas or historic disadvantage as identified by regulators.
Equity applicants would qualify for a 50% reduction on application and licensing fees during their first five years in operation, plus grants that include financial assistance, technical support and training services.
Community organizations would also receive funding, to subsidize childcare and youth programs. Regulators would hire contractors for developing an awareness and health education campaign that will commence later this year.
An effective public health and grant program would grant funds to community-based organizations for various health and educational initiatives.
An independent public safety grant program would award funds directly to state and county agencies for law enforcement, crisis intervention and the implementation of nuisance abatement laws – among many other initiatives.
An innovative grant program would assist smaller cultivators with industry training, technical assistance and market research projects. Cannabis businesses could take advantage of state tax deductions even though similar deductions remain forbidden at a federal level.
Last March, the Senate of Louisiana approved its own legalization bill; however, as with prior attempts at ending prohibition in Louisiana, this one stalled out in the House.
Regulators recently solicited proposals to evaluate California’s medical cannabis program as well as assess demand estimates if adult-use legalization moves ahead, signaling to some that regulatory agencies saw it necessary to prepare themselves for reform.
Hawaii was the first U.S. state to legalize medical cannabis through legislation, passing an act in 2000. Separately in Hawaii, earlier this week a Senate panel approved an initiative that will nearly quadruple the amount of pot an individual may possess without incurring criminal charges.
SB 319 would increase Hawaii’s current limit for decriminalized cannabis from 3 grams up to 15 grams; any amounts exceeding this amount would still constitute civil offense punishable with fines up to $130.
The measure would also slightly adjust the threshold amount of marijuana that qualifies as “promoting a detrimental drug in the second degree” from one ounce (28.35 grams) to 30 grams, an increase from its current status as 1 oz (28.35).
Senate Committee on Judiciary lawmakers narrowly approved of passing Senate Resolution 51 by voting only against it–Sen. Mike Gabbard (D) being the exception who cast their no vote after previously supporting legalization but later changing their mind due to testimony presented from an anti-drug advocacy group.
Last month, the House Committee on Labor voted unanimously to advance legislation which will protect medical marijuana patients registered in state agencies from workplace discrimination and protect them against workplace harassment or threats of reprisal.
After Vote Confirming Trump’s Health Secretary Nominee RFK Will Adhere To Science Of Marijuana Harms
Photo by Kyle Jaeger.
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