Wisconsin Senate Majority leader targets THC regulation as top 2026 priority
What we have here is a continued show down between SB 682 and SB 681, or the Testin/Kurtz Bill vs Three Tier Bill. With Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu recently on the news and hinting the taxation of hemp cannabis is on his radar screen, the Three Tier Bill concept, or at least the taxation part of it, rears its ugly head in main stream media, again…..
LeMahieu has traditionally used the the “it is federally illegal excuse” when talking about legalizing marijuana, but now that it is hemp cannabis all of the sudden once opposed Republicans want to tax an emerging and fragile Wisconsin industry. Opposition of the Three Tier System continues to grow in Wisconsin, just apparently not with Senate Majority Leader LeMahieu.
Source, if you want to watch the whole news clip.
MADISON, Wis. (WSAW) – The Wisconsin State Senate has just three months left to tackle their priorities for this session. Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu says THC regulation and SNAP funding are on the docket.
In an end-of-year interview, LeMahieu said the state budget is lawmakers’ biggest accomplishment this year.
Vanessa Kjeldsen: What are some of the biggest moments that jump out to you from 2025?
Devin LeMahieu: I think you have to look at the budget. That’s the most important thing that we do every session. You know, we felt after the previous session where Governor Evers continuously vetoed our attempts to cut taxes for Wisconsin’s hard-working families. Going into this budget with a $4.4 billion surplus, we definitely felt it was important to give some of that money back to the taxpayers.
VK: Do you have a top legislative priority for 2026?
DL: I think the one thing that we still need to address and deal with is, so in the 2018 farm bill, THC was probably accidentally legalized countrywide and statewide. I know the federal government has just made recent changes that it might ban it if they take no further action over the next year, but there’s a whole industry that’s risen up in Wisconsin in the meantime of producing, manufacturing, distributing, and selling, and state statute is silent on it.
VK: What kind of regulations would you want to see?
DL: It’s important to make sure that minors aren’t buying it– so an age limit, probably a serving limit, so it’s safer. Maybe something around marketing, and taxing. How should it be taxed.
And LeMahieu predicts that the Republicans will hold the Senate after the new maps are tested in the 2nd half of the Senate in 2026. My 2026 Wisconsin Election Coverage is already under way and a recent analysis of the Senate districts up for election in 2026 offers a few different predictions with number to back it up.
VK: Are you concerned at all about Democrats flipping seats?
DL: I’m confident we’ll be back in the majority.
