The proposed 60% tax on small businesses is a job killer!

Tallahassee, FL – Two bills HB 7027 and HB 7029 were introduced in the middle of the night to kill the hemp cannabis industry and greatly restrict consumer access to these wellness products. On April 1st, less than 48 hours later, these bills both sponsored by Representative Michelle Salzman, the chair of the Housing, Agriculture, and Tourism Committee, passed unanimously with little input from affected small businesses and consumers. Last year, Governor DeSantis vetoed a similar hemp cannabis ban stating the bill “would introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail and manufacturing businesses in Florida.” Florida Cannabis Action Network is rallying small business owners and consumers demanding the legislature “Ax the Tax” and save their wellness products. Visit FLCAN.org/Engage for a link to the action.

“As opposed to giving us legalization, they’ve actually given us prohibition 2.0,” stated Jodi James, President of FLCAN in an interview with Action News Jax.

Courtesy of Action News Jax

This past November 56% of voters supported Amendment 3, which would have expanded recreational marijuana, falling short of the 60% required to pass. Hemp cannabis is marijuana with less than 0.3% THC.

HB 7027 and HB 7029 are prohibitionist-driven bills that cater to the existing fixed alcohol scheme, giving hemp beverage sales to adult-only stores that sell liquor. This prohibition on sales, short-circuits small businesses and family-friendly establishments, limiting access for adult consumers.

HB 7027 Summary

• Retailers must limit sales of hemp products to 100mg per day for adults.
• Retailers must include “Hemp Consumable THC products” in credit card statements potentially undermining bank access.
• Retailers must track the maximum personal consumption of hemp products in a 24-hour period and restrictions on where they can be used.
• Retailers must verify local consumption, age-verify online sales, and send delivery receipt notices for hemp products with more than trace amounts of THC.
• “Fresh from Florida” CBD products will no longer be available at local fairs, farmers markets, trade shows, or exhibitions.
• Retailers who fail to follow these proposed regulations would be subject to arrest and criminal prosecution thereby criminalizing a federally legal product.

HB 7029 Summary

• Retailers will be required to pay an additional 60% wholesale “sin tax” for hemp cannabis wellness products from wholesale distributors.
• Retailers will be formally stigmatized by government agencies for selling hemp cannabis wellness products with a similar treatment as alcohol and tobacco.