COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio House and the Senate may come to a compromise on marijuana and "intoxicating" hemp policy after an earlier deal went up in smoke Wednesday night.
At 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Senate Bill 56 conference committee held a meeting to discuss details. A proposal was passed out of the six-person committee around midnight, with both Democrats voting against it.
"I commend the Senate for working with the House and preserving the overwhelming majority of those provisions that both parties supported just two weeks ago," House Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said.
Representatives told us they were being pressured to accept the Senate's deal and were unhappy with the result. They did get some wins, though.
Of the major provisions the House pushed for, they were able to get cities with dispensaries their marijuana sales money. They were also able to keep THC beverages allowed until the end of 2026. The other intoxicating hemp products are banned.
Still, the Senate has left already and is unable to vote, even if the House agrees to a deal. That way, marijuana and hemp are safe until at least early December, lawmakers said.
This is a developing story and will be updated. The following was reported at 6 p.m.
The gavel hit for likely one of the last times before Ohio lawmakers take their holiday break.
Their main priority was supposed to be marijuana and hemp policy. A deal was done to ban intoxicating hemp products with low-level THC that you can buy in gas stations and smoke shops.
Marijuana policy wasn't going to change much, until a last-minute curveball on Wednesday.
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"The Senate has dug in on adding some things to the bill that are just not acceptable to a lot of members of the House," state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) said.
They have hit a roadblock — A Jamie Callender-sized roadblock. The Cleveland-area Republican calls the last-minute additions to the bill “unconstitutional.”
"Some language that they took out that we had to protect from searches and stops by law enforcement based on being a 'known user' or a 'known consumer,'" Callender said.
Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said the new provisions would make it illegal to have marijuana in your car in some instances. The changes could also jeopardize jobs if someone tests positive for THC. It also would not include money for expungement.
“The majority of Republicans in the House and Senate don't care about the will of the voters, and that's the biggest problem,” DeMora said.
But Senate President Rob McColley said that they were focused on public safety.
RELATED: Congress is set to ban hemp. Ohio may not comply.
"Selling a lot of these products that we've already said are really concerning, could potentially harm kids," McColley said in a previous gaggle.
State Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) has been working with Callender to protect access to hemp products, while also regulating them.
The duo has been pushing back against leadership for months.
RELATED: 2 Ohio Republicans taking on their own party to protect access to marijuana
The president argued that he and the Senate had done their job on the topic.
"Why can the chambers never come to an agreement on marijuana and hemp?" I asked McColley.
"I'm not going to air the differences out in public. I don't think that's fair to negotiations that are supposed to be in the spirit of a conference committee," he responded. "The Senate has made significant, significant concessions to get to this point. We've even made continued concessions three times after we thought we had a deal."
But this isn't the end.
RELATED: Marijuana wins while hemp loses in Ohio House's passed bipartisan bill
"We have an if-needed session in December," House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
But for a large group of Republicans and Democrats in the House, the Senate’s requests are unreasonable.
"Do you see this as the Senate's effort to, in a way, recriminalize marijuana?" I asked Callender.
"Yes," he responded. "The Senate always has the opportunity to go back and retract."
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