Ohio House’s Cannabis Overhaul Would Regulate Hemp; Preserve Home-Grow Limits

The Ohio House has introduced House Bill 160, a more limited approach to regulating adult-use marijuana compared to the Senate’s broader Senate Bill 56. H.B. 160 maintains Issue 2’s 12-plant home-grow cap, allows consumption on any residential property, and permits sharing homegrown marijuana within households. Unlike the Senate’s bill, it does not restrict edible potency and seeks to regulate intoxicating hemp products by requiring their sale in dispensaries.

Both bills propose capping THC extracts at 70%, establishing expungement protocols for low-level possession offenses, and enforcing restrictions on marketing to minors, workplace drug policies, and DUI penalties. A key difference is H.B. 160’s approach to tax revenue: while keeping the 10% excise tax, it would phase out local kickbacks, eliminate the social equity fund, and divert funds to the state’s general fund.

The Ohio Cannabis Coalition views the bill as a step forward, reflecting input from both industry members and consumers while aiming to keep Ohio’s market competitive.

The Ohio Council Welcomes New Affiliate Member, Optimal Networking Enterprises

Optimal Networking Enterprises in Fremont, OH - Taneshia Slater, CEO, can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at (419) 672-0143.

Optimal Networking Enterprises is a company that does medical billing and coding, along with compliance oversight for Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment. 

For more information about Optimal Networking Enterprises, click here!

Ohio’s Budget Could Boot 771,000 From Medicaid Pending Federal Budget Cuts

A swirl of possible state and federal policy decisions could eject 771,000 Ohioans from Medicaid, a public health insurance program for low-income earners.

Those people are covered today thanks to Ohio’s 2013 decision via Gov. John Kasich to extend Medicaid to those earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line.

For a family of four, that’s about $44,000 per year. Previously, Medicaid was generally limited to children, pregnant women, or people with disabilities, all from low-income households.

At the time Ohio expanded its Medicaid coverage the federal government covered 100% of the expansion. That was reduced gradually from 2016 to 2020 to its current 90-10 split between the federal and state government.

Under current law, the state can already end coverage of the expansion population if there’s a federal funds reduction. The proposed budget language, however, would make this mandatory.

Medicaid Overhaul Proves to be Politically Perilous Proposition

In their quest to pay for President Donald Trump’s policy priorities, Republicans are eyeing Medicaid, the largest health insurance program for more than 70 million low-income Americans, as a program ripe for cuts. But they face obstacles that could block any sort of overhaul to the nearly 60-year-old joint state and federal program. Among those obstacles: public opinion, members of their own party in competitive districts, governors who worry about impacts to their state budgets, a closely divided Senate, and maybe one of the most formidable: hospitals and health care providers that carry significant influence in Washington. While House Republicans and some governors are coalescing around “work requirements” in Medicaid as a way to save money, more significant cuts — and more politically perilous ones — remain on the table. One of the most impactful policies would be reducing how much the federal government spends to cover the Medicaid expansion population. And several states have already indicated they will pursue work requirements, including Ohio, Arkansas and South Carolina.