Latest news with #Bill86
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio Senate passes bill that would require hemp products to only be sold at marijuana dispensaries
Flowers of hemp plants that contain less that 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana, to be used for student instruction at the Cleveland School of Cannabis, October 30, 2023, in Independence, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) The Ohio Senate unanimously passed a bill that would regulate intoxicating hemp and drinkable cannabinoid products. Ohio Senate Bill 86 would require intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use marijuana dispensaries instead of allowing them to be sold at CBD stores, convenience stores, smoke shops, or gas stations. The bill now moves to the Ohio House for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Current intoxicated hemp products are untested and unregulated,' said Ohio state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City. 'The bill protects buyers from gaining access to these intoxicating products and ensures adults can still purchase them from existing regulated operators.' Huffman introduced the bill with state Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has implored lawmakers to regulate or ban delta-8 THC products. The bill would also impose a 10% tax on intoxicating hemp products, ban sales to anyone under 21, and would only allow intoxicating hemp products to be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling, and advertising. During discussion on the bill on Wednesday, senators talked primarily about how the bill would protect Ohio kids. 'This bill regulates intoxicating hemp products and removes the untested, unsafe items that are marketed toward children from corner stores and vape shops and gas stations,' said state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus. 'It includes requirements for product testing, safe packaging, age verification. These are all common sense measures.' Wilkin spoke about how a health commissioner in his district came across an intoxicating hemp product that looked like Rice Krispies cereal box. 'That is marketed to kids,' he said. 'We don't know what's in them and unfortunately they are, without question, ending up in our kids' hands and that's not right.' Children's safety and standardization got the Senate Democrats on board with the bill as well, according to Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood. 'The more we can narrow in the standardization and some oversight … and the safety of them, the better we are,' she said. 'Is it perfect? No, but does it really get to some of the positive changes for safety's sake? I think so.' CBD store owners previously testified against the bill, arguing this could potentially put them out of business. During testimony in March, Bellefontaine business owner Jaimee Courtney said the bill would eliminate 90% of the 'non-intoxicating full-spectrum hemp products' her business offers, and that the bill would 'drive consumers to unregulated online markets.' 'I don't have a lot of sympathy for some of those businesses that are now being forced to not offer a product that was very clearly dangerous and targeted towards children,' said Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon. 'I still think if (shops) were operating before (intoxicating hemp), they're going to be able to operate after.' Members of the marijuana business, poison control workers, and religious organizations testified in support of the bill. The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill says hemp can be legally grown if it contains less than 0.3% THC. Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024. Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hamilton Spectator
26-04-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Stouffville Eyes Tax Sales to Recover Millions in Unpaid Property Taxes
● At year end, Stouffville had nearly $10.3 million in unpaid 2024 property taxes from over 5,700 accounts. ● More than $5.2 million is still outstanding from 2022 and prior, despite Staff recently collecting $1.7 million. ● The Town must remit taxes to the Region and Province regardless of collection success, placing pressure on municipal finances. ● Council has directed Staff to prepare a report on proceeding with tax sales by the end of May. ● To recoup unpaid levies, tax sales allow the Town to auction properties that are more than two years behind on payments. ● No tax sales have been conducted in over a decade, with Town Staff prioritizing payment plans over forced sales. Mounting arrears and mandatory costs are prompting Stouffville to consider tax sales, a measure it hasn't taken in more than a decade. The legal process allows the Town to auction off properties whose owners have failed to pay their property taxes. In 2024, Stouffville maintained 19,922 individual property tax accounts. By year-end, payments had been collected from 14,215 accounts, generating $125,155,938 in gross revenue. However, the remaining 5,707 accounts represented nearly $10.3 million in unpaid taxes. Additional outstanding amounts include $3.64 million from 738 accounts linked to 2023, and a further $5.22 million from 281 accounts tied to 2022 and earlier. Although the Town collects property taxes, only about 36 percent of those funds stayed within the municipality last year. 45 percent of the revenue was forwarded to York Region, and 19 percent was allocated to the Ontario government for education funding. These transfers must be remitted regardless of Stouffville's collection status from taxpayers. Consequently, outstanding tax accounts create a dual financial burden: the mandatory payments must still be made while the Town simultaneously goes without revenues needed to support its operating budget. 'Even though it is our responsibility…to collect taxes, our bills and payments of taxes to the school boards and to the Region continue,' Councillor Maurice Smith said during Council's April 16 meeting. 'We get no reprieve from these payments simply because we cannot collect, we must still pay them their particular allocations.' Stouffville has made progress in collecting outstanding taxes in recent years. Commissioner of Finance and Treasurer Jeremy Harness noted that, in just the first two weeks of April, the Town had recovered roughly $50,000 in arrears. Mayor Iain Lovatt commended Staff efforts in collecting nearly $1.7 million tied to 2022 and earlier, but he noted that over $5.2 million remain outstanding. He explained that Staff have the authority to conduct tax sales through Ontario's Bill 86, the Respecting Property Taxpayers Act. 'We've already paid the Region and we've already paid the Province for education costs associated with that,' Lovatt said. 'The whole of the municipality and our residents are paying for those arrears, and it shouldn't be that way.' To address the issue, Council directed Staff to report back on initiating tax sales as a means to close delinquent accounts and recover lost funds. That report is expected by the end of May. A tax sale is a legal tool that allows municipalities to auction properties whose owner has fallen significantly behind on their tax payments. In Stouffville, a property becomes eligible for tax sale when outstanding taxes go unpaid for more than two years—double the one-year period allowed through Bill 86. Residents with overdue taxes receive multiple communications under Stouffville's current policy, including alerts attached to tax bills, late payment charges, and overdue collection and arrears notices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Town paused arrears notices in appreciation of financial struggles residents may have been experiencing. There has been a recent push to reintroduce them, and that effort resulted in the April collections noted by Harness. 'Arrears notices really started again about a month ago, and Staff are now working through the list of accounts,' he said in recent comments to Bullet Point News. 'So someone who could be in arrears may not have received a notice yet.' The Town's extended window before initiating a tax sale gives property owners additional time to pay off their account or sell their home. However, once a property is auctioned, any accrued equity is forfeited, and proceeds go toward settling the tax debt. To avoid this outcome, Town Staff prioritize working with property owners to establish payment arrangements. As of December 31, 2024, 45 of the 281 tax-sale-eligible accounts had entered into such agreements. The remaining 236 accounts, representing tax receivables of over $4.6 million, remained at risk. Harness said the Town has not conducted a tax sale in over 10 years. 'The intention is that we are able to work with property owners to arrange for payment, and that can be full payment or setting up payment arrangements,' he explained. 'As long as those arrangements are maintained and adhered to, then we're perfectly fine to continue working with that over a tax sale.' He added that the process itself is lengthy, often taking up to two years, meaning owners have additional time and opportunity for payment even after a tax sale process has been initiated. 'In cases when property owners don't engage with us at all, a tax sale becomes our final recourse,' Harness concluded. Other municipalities warn that tax sales carry substantial risks for buyers. According to the City of Markham, tax sales are conducted on a 'buyer beware' basis—meaning no viewings, no guarantee of possession, and potential responsibility for eviction proceedings, outstanding utility bills, or other liens. Markham officials advise potential buyers to seek legal counsel before submitting bids. As part of their forthcoming report, Town Staff will review and clarify Stouffville's tax sale procedures and conditions.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio bill would regulate the sale of intoxicating hemp products, limit where products would be sold
Flowers of hemp plants that contain less that 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana, to be used for student instruction at the Cleveland School of Cannabis, October 30, 2023, in Independence, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) A pair of Ohio Republican state senators want intoxicating hemp products to only be sold at adult-use dispensaries — not convenience stores, smoke shops, or gas stations. Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, and Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, introduced Senate Bill 86, which would also impose a 15% tax on intoxicating hemp products sold at dispensaries and ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to anyone under 21. 'Currently, intoxicating hemp products are untested, unregulated psychoactive products that can be just as intoxicating, if not more intoxicating than marijuana,' Wilkin said in his sponsor testimony to the Senate General Government Committee on Tuesday. The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3% THC. Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024. Fifteen states ban these products. Seven states, including Michigan, regulate it like cannabis, while seven other states regulate it like consumer goods, according to the study. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Given the lack of regulations, the intoxicating hemp industry has been able to confuse Ohio consumers and law enforcement by marketing themselves as 'dispensaries' with 'recreational marijuana,'' Huffman said in his testimony. Under the bill, intoxicating hemp products would only be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling, and advertising. The bill would only apply to products that can be ingested or inhaled. 'To suppress the illicit market, this bill prohibits hemp products that are not sold in dispensaries from marketing the products as marijuana, using any terms associated with the sale of the product that would cause a consumer to infer the product is marijuana, or that the entity selling the product is a marijuana dispensary,' Huffman said in his testimony. He had a bill in the last General Assembly that would have banned the sale of all intoxicating hemp products, but it wasn't able to make it out of committee. Hemp business owners testified against the bill since it would end their livelihood, but they spoke in favor of regulations. S.B. 86 would also regulate drinkable cannabinoid products. 'The bill also authorizes the manufacture and sale of low-dose drinkable cannabinoid products in Ohio's dispensaries, craft breweries, bars and restaurants, and carry-outs, and imposes a $3.50 per gallon excise tax on manufacturers, similar to how we tax alcohol,' Huffman said in his testimony. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has repeatedly asked lawmakers to regulate or ban delta-8 THC products and Wilkin thanked DeWine for calling attention to this issue. 'The administration has been a consistent voice in warning of the dangers of this unregulated, untested, and dangerous market, and we're thankful for their efforts once again on this issue,' Wilkin said. Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
