Local governments will have to relax their zoning laws on where cannabis businesses can set up shop, after House lawmakers successfully overrode a veto by Gov. Matt Meyer during the wee hours of morning on the last day of Delaware's legislation session.
The General Assembly passed SB 75 last year, with the aim of helping Delaware’s cannabis business grow. Recreational use was legalized in 2023 but business has stalled in part due to strict local zoning rules.
The House took up the override on July 1 around 3:15 am.
Republican State Rep. Shannon Morris objected to the timing, calling it "un-transparent."
"Why wait till July 1, when the state of Delaware is sleeping?" he asked the bill's house sponsor state State. Rep. Ed Osienski.
Lawmakers convened for the last day of Delaware's its legislative session on June 30. And Osienski said that the house had to bring the measure up before the 153rd session closed out.
"If we do not do it before (then), it just can't come back up," Osienski said. "So that's why we're doing it today."
Osienski added the legislature had to wait for another case that raised similar issues to play out in Delaware's courts. In that case, Sussex County and Fenwick Island challenged the a law the general assembly passed last year, which required county governments to approve electrical substations that meet requirements outlined in the bill.
Delaware's highest court gave its decision, which the Court of Chancery upheld in April.
The decision in the electric substation case gave the green light to move forward with the veto override for the cannabis zoning legislation, Osienski said.
"After that decision came out," Osienski said,"we all, as a caucus, discussed this and we felt like we needed to override that veto, because we can."
The Senate voted to override the veto in January - so the bill is now state law.
The law, sponsored by two powerful state dems, Osienski, who is house majority whip, and Sen. Trey Paradee, who co-chairs the Joint Finance Committee, stands to substantially change the potential for Delaware's recreational cannabis business and rules currently in place for some localities.
Before the veto override, Delaware allowed local zoning rules like three-mile buffers between cannabis businesses and churches, schools, colleges, and substance use treatment facilities.
But with SB 75 in place, counties can only prohibit retail cannabis stores if they are within a half a mile of another retail cannabis store; or if they are 500 feet of schools, licensed child-care facilities, residential treatment facilities, parks, or libraries.
Another bill related to cannabis establishments also passed the general assembly earlier this month.
Also sponsored by Osienski, HB 271 clarifies that state rules on distance between cannabis establishments only apply to retail businesses— not production or wholesale operations.
