132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1672		LR 1757(02)
	An Act to Allow Participation in the Adult Use Cannabis Tracking System to Be Voluntary
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
			FY 2025-26	FY 2026-27	Projections  FY 2027-28	Projections  FY 2028-29
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$9,684,489	$2,447,448	$2,532,443	$2,620,752
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$9,684,489	$2,447,448	$2,532,443	$2,620,752
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill requires the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services to develop and implement an alternate tracking method for adult-use cannabis and cannabis products that licensees may use as an alternative to the existing inventory tracking system. The bill directs the office to provisionally adopt major substantive rules by January 9, 2026, to establish the framework for the alternate method. The rules must ensure that the office can implement product recalls for health and safety purposes and may not require licensees to purchase tags, labels or similar items for tracking purposes. Because OCP retains a statutory responsibility to administer and enforce the adult-use cannabis program, the functionality currently supported by a third-party vendor will need to be replicated or replaced through internal capacity if an alternate tracking method is developed and implemented.
	The bill includes a one-time General Fund appropriation of $8,540,000 in fiscal year 2025-26 to OCP for the information technology costs associated with development of the alternate tracking system. The bill also includes ongoing General Fund appropriations of $1,144,489 in fiscal year 2025-26 for one Auditor III position, 2 Field Investigator Supervisor positions, 4 Auditor II positions, and 12 OCP Compliance Inspector positions, along with associated All Other costs. The fiscal year 2025-26 estimate assumes that these positions will begin halfway through the fiscal year after the rules are provisionally adopted and that these costs will increase to $2,447,448 in fiscal year 2026-27.
	OCP has indicated that based on the experience of other states that have developed independent tracking systems, additional costs related to data integration and long-term maintenance are anticipated. These costs would depend on the final design of the alternate system and are not included in this fiscal note, but are expected to be substantial.