Marijuana Moment: Delaware Senate Votes To Override Governor’s Veto Of Marijuana Bill That Would Limit Restrictive Local Business Zoning Rules

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The Delaware Senate has voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would prevent local governments from imposing onerous zoning restrictions that make it more challenging for marijuana businesses to operate in their jurisdictions.

This comes months after Gov. Matt Meyer (D) vetoed the legislation from Sen. Trey Paradee (D), who pitched it as a means of ensuring that the state’s maturing cannabis market is not impeded by county zoning rules.

The Senate voted 14-6 to on Wednesday to override the veto, clearing the three-fifth majority threshold for such action. The House must also vote by that same standard in order for the legislation to take effect contrary to the governor’s wishes.

Paradee, who sharply criticized Meyer immediately after the veto and alleged that he “lied” about a deal to get the bill enacted last year, changed his tone somewhat ahead of the override vote this week, stating that lawmakers did not intend to reject the veto as a “personal attack” on the governor.

“This is not about personalities. This is not about politics,” the senator said. “This is about policy—and, more specifically, it is about whether the General Assembly is willing to stand behind the policy choices we already made in 2023 or whether we are comfortable allowing those choices to slowly collapse under the weight of inaction and obstruction.”

Despite efforts to stand up the cannabis industry, “we have not meaningfully expanded the number of operating retail dispensaries,” he said, adding that the state “created expectations” about entrepreneurial growth but then “left license holders stranded.”

“We have created a licensing system that promises opportunity while tolerating a local land use environment that prevents those licenses from ever being used,” he said. “That is not regulation. That is paralysis.”

Delaware’s adult-use cannabis market launched last August, with the governor touting the state’s first “successful” weekend of adult-use cannabis sales, with total purchases for medical and recreational marijuana totaling nearly $1 million—and compliance checks demonstrating that the regulated market is operating as intended under the law.

But when it comes to local control, Meyer aligned himself with county governments in a way that Pardee and others say is kneecapping the industry with zoning restrictions that limit the expansion of the commercial market.

“A weak legal market only serves to strengthen the illegal market,” Pardee said on Wednesday. “The first step to displacing the illicit market is not more rhetoric, it is building a functional, accessible, regulated legal market. The first step to building that market is allowing licensed businesses to open.”

The legislation that lawmakers passed and the governor, a former New Castle County executive, vetoed would “prevent zoning from being used as a disguised prohibition,” Pardee said.

“It establishes a reasonable statewide floor so that state-issued licenses have a realistic path to existence. That is all Senate Bill 75 is about: Finishing the job,” he said. “It is about preventing local zoning from being used as a de facto ban on a legal state-authorized industry.”

“It does not force any business to open. It does not eliminate reasonable setbacks or safety rules. It does not strip counties of land use authority,” he continued. “What it does is establish a basic statewide floor so that, if the state issues a license, there is at least a realistic path forward to use it. That is fairness. That is regulatory integrity. That is good government.”

“If we allow the governor’s veto to stand, we are effectively telling conditional license holders, you want a license, but we never intended to give you a place to operate. We are telling investors Delaware’s word is conditional. We’re telling entrepreneurs, apply at your own risk. That is not the message a serious state sends. Colleagues, we legalized adult-use cannabis. That decision has already been made. The question before us today is not whether marijuana should be legal. The question is whether we’re going to regulate the legal market competently. The question is whether we are comfortable watching surrounding states collect the revenue, create the jobs and build the infrastructure that could be built here. The question is whether we allow local zoning to quietly nullify state law.”

“I believe the answer must be ‘no.’ Overriding this veto is not radical—is not reckless. It is responsible. It is a course correction,” he said. “It says that, when Delaware creates a licensing system, we intend for it to function. It says that, when we promise opportunity, we mean it. It says that state law cannot be rendered meaningless by a patchwork of local prohibitions. This is about honoring the law we passed. This is about protecting Delaware’s economic interests. This is about moving forward instead of standing still.”

The governor, for his part, said he stands by his veto even as he continues to support marijuana legalization.

On Wednesday, he said he doesn’t think “the state should require every county and certainly localities to have marijuana stores 500 feet from the local elementary school.”

“I think it’s a local decision. That’s what I think,” he said. “If Senate Democrats disagree, then they can disagree.”

House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (D), for her part, said lawmakers need to have “more conversation” about the bill before it can receive a vote in her chamber.

“I will not put an override on the floor if it does not have the votes,” she said.

Last year, Meyer detailed a conversation he had with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) about regulating the marijuana industry—drawing a contrast between their respective responsibilities given the fact that Colorado is much larger with more local jurisdictions to interact with compared to Delaware, which has just three counties.

The launch of Delaware’s legal market came about two years after marijuana legalization was enacted into law under former Gov. John Carney (D).

Ahead of the sales roll-out, the governor last July toured one of the state’s cannabis cultivation facilities, praising the quality of marijuana that’s being produced, which he said will be the “French wine of weed.”

The launch of the legal market came with some controversy, however, with critics alleging that allowing medical operators to start adult-use sales ahead of other license applicants is unfair. Dozens of other would-be retailers that have either already received licenses or are still awaiting issuance will need to wait for further regulatory approvals until they can open their doors—a situation that’s frustrated some advocates.

Meanwhile, two lawmakers who led the push to legalize marijuana are separately seeking input from consumers and businesses about the market launch. Paradee, the sponsor of SB 75, and House Majority Whip Rep. Ed Osienski (D)—the primary sponsor of the state’s 2023 legalization bills—put out a new online form last year for residents to share thoughts and feedback about the cannabis program anonymously.

The idea is to identify any hiccups that lawmakers might need to address when they return for next year’s legislative session.

The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) initially projected that recreational sales would start by last March, but complications related to securing an FBI fingerprint background check service code delayed the implementation. Lawmakers passed a bill in April to resolve the issue, and the FBI subsequently issued the code that the stat’s marijuana law requires.

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Meanwhile, a Delaware House committee this week approved a bill to decriminalize public consumption of marijuana.

While certain legal marijuana states like Colorado and Ohio still impose criminal penalties for public cannabis use, Delaware stands out as especially punitive, with a maximum penalty that carries the risk of jail time in addition to a fine.

Additionally, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

In 2024, OMC held a series of licensing lotteries for cannabis business to start serving adult consumers.

A total of 125 licenses will ultimately be issued, including 30 retailers, 60 cultivators, 30 manufacturers and five testing labs. In 2024, regulators also detailed what portion of each category is reserved for social equity applicants, microbusinesses and general open licenses.

Regulators have also been rolling out a series of proposed regulations to stand up the forthcoming adult-use cannabis industry.

Meanwhile, Carney raised eyebrows last January after making a questionable claim that “nobody” wants cannabis shops in their neighborhoods, even if there’s consensus that criminalization doesn’t work.

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