A Minnesota legislative conference committee on May 16 approved a conference report on Senate File 2370, the omnibus cannabis bill, after more than two hours of public testimony and committee discussion.

The committee voted to instruct nonpartisan staff to prepare the final conference committee report and to make technical and conforming changes “to reflect the intent of this conference committee,” a motion moved by Representative Steven Stevenson and approved by voice vote. The committee did not amend the report on the floor during the hearing.

The bill, described by witnesses and staff as a package of implementation fixes, contains provisions aimed at smoothing the licensing rollout, easing barriers for testing laboratories, clarifying social-equity eligibility, expanding some patient protections, creating lower-potency hemp wholesaler and delivery pathways, updating transportation rules and directing the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to propose a supply-chain streamlining plan to the Legislature.

Eric Taubel, interim director of the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, told the committee the report reflects several OCM recommendations and would help launch the regulated market. “The office remains focused on implementing chapter 342 to foster an equitable cannabis industry that prioritizes public health and safety, consumer confidence, and market integrity,” Taubel said. He highlighted four areas the office supports: licensing rollout (including a licensing variance for testing facilities), application-process improvements, clarifications to social-equity qualification standards and provisions to protect continuity for medical patients.

Taubel told conferees the bill would permit testing facilities to start accreditation while they begin operations, a change intended to reduce a common rollout choke point. “Every market that has launched has had some amount of slowdown related to the lack of testing capacity,” he said, and the bill’s changes are intended “to ease the burden of entry for new testing facilities into the market.”

Testing capacity was a repeated theme in testimony. Taubel said the OCM had seven preliminary-approved labs and five qualified applicants in the pipeline at the time of the hearing, and that loosening an ISO/accreditation requirement could bring more labs online sooner.

Patient groups and caregivers urged stronger protections and better access. Several speakers representing patients and caregivers said the medical program has been fragile and needs measures to preserve access, lower prices and protect civil rights tied to registry participation. Sarah Wellington, a Saint Paul teacher on leave and medical patient, said patients in greater Minnesota lack meaningful access and sometimes turn to untested sources because legal, local supply remains limited.

Multiple patient advocates and veterans pressed for supply-chain unification so adult-use operators could serve medical patients. “We need to adapt the system to better allow adult use businesses to serve medical cannabis patients,” said John Jones, an Iraq War veteran. Witnesses argued unification would expand product choice, lower prices and improve patient continuity; OCM and some committee members said the bill directs OCM to prepare a legislative proposal on that issue rather than adopting an immediate statutory change.

Hemp businesses and small operators criticized several provisions affecting low-potency hemp wholesalers and the bill’s proposed fees. Several testifiers, including Veil Fatahi (a hemp business owner and policy consultant) and Patty Gilk (owner of Just Natural CBD Wellness), called out a $10,000 license fee for low-potency hemp edible wholesalers as disproportionate and likely to disadvantage small, locally focused operators. Several witnesses said the fee structure and local zoning practices risk shifting market access to better-capitalized firms.

Multiple witnesses also urged the committee to reject a late-stage proposal to raise the cannabis excise tax by 50 percent (from 10 percent to 15 percent), saying it would raise retail prices and risk preserving the illicit market. Joshua Wilkins Simon, owner of Legacy Glassworks and an operator in the cannabis sector, said the combined taxes in Minneapolis could top 24 percent after the increase and warned high taxes in other states helped sustain large illicit markets.

The conference report contains other substantive edits described during the hearing and in staff summaries:

- Expungement: Mark Hazy, deputy director and general counsel of the Cannabis Expungement Board, said the report largely incorporates requested language to allow the board to consider prior felony cannabis convictions and to address court record limitations that have left some eligible misdemeanor cases unsealed. Hazy said the conference language permits courts to seal an entire multi-count case if all counts are cannabis-related and meet eligibility criteria; he estimated a small sample showed about 14 percent of sampled multi-count cases would be affected.

- Transportation and security: The bill removes the current statutory requirement that transport vehicles carry two employees and instead tightens vehicle-security and unattended-vehicle safeguards.

- Hemp licensing and cross‑border sales: The bill creates a lower-potency hemp edible wholesaler license and allows certain hemp manufacturers and wholesalers to export products to other states provided they comply with the receiving state’s rules and take steps to prevent return to Minnesota; staff emphasized compliance and recordkeeping conditions.

- Retail registration and local approvals: The report and testimony clarify state and local roles for retail registrations and local approvals. Representative Cheryl Hansen urged local governments to use the state’s model resources, saying inconsistent municipal practices and optional local caps have delayed market entry for licensees and risked “functional bans” in some jurisdictions.

- Potency limits and labeling: Senator Carla Nelson presented draft amendments (A22, A23 in the hearing packet) seeking lower limits for high-potency concentrates, caps on infused products, and clearer package warnings. Nelson and multiple colleagues argued for warning labels and standardized package messages; Taubel and OCM staff said the agency adopted universal symbols and labeling requirements but cited practical constraints for small packages and warned against overwarning.

Ben Johnson of House Research walked members through differences between the house and senate positions that the conference report reconciled, including tribal-government provisions, hemp licensing, testing‑lab accreditation variance, sampling at licensed adult-use events, medical patient protections, and the supply‑chain study directive.

Committee members on both sides expressed interest in continuing work next session on supply-chain unification, potency limits, labeling standards and ensuring the medical supply remains affordable and available for patients with serious conditions. Representative Stevenson said he would support the report and moved to authorize nonpartisan staff to prepare the final report and make technical conforming changes; the motion carried by voice vote.

Votes at a glance

- Motion: Direct nonpartisan staff to prepare the conference committee report and empower staff to make technical and conforming changes that reflect the committee’s intent.
- Mover: Representative Steven Stevenson.
- Outcome: Approved by voice vote (ayes announced; motion carries).
- Notes: The committee did not adopt floor amendments during the hearing; conferees directed staff to produce the final document for signatures.

Background and next steps

The conference report is the product of house and senate conferees’ negotiations and resolves technical and substantive differences between each chamber’s versions. The act would take effect the day following final enactment, and the report directs OCM to submit a legislative proposal on supply‑chain streamlining. Conferees said they intend to continue work on potency, labeling, local registration clarity and expungement in future sessions.

What was not decided

The hearing did not enact immediate statutory unification of the medical and adult-use supply chains; instead the committee directed OCM to develop a legislative proposal. The conference report also did not change local governments’ option to impose retail registration caps or local zoning authority; several conferees urged increased local communication and reliance on model ordinances and state guidance to avoid conflicting municipal approaches that delay business openings.

The committee accepted public testimony from patients, caregivers, small-business owners, tribal representatives, advocates and OCM staff as part of the official record.