(Lewis and Clark County) A Lewis and Clark County district court judge has ruled against a new state law that dramatically increased the licensing fees for marijuana dispensaries with multiple locations.
House Bill 903 was signed into law on May 22nd of 2023, and under its policies a Montana Dispensary would have to pay a cumulative 5,000-dollar fee for license renewal for each shop that it owned: for example, a second locations license would cost 10,000 dollars, and so on.
Previously, the fee was a flat 5,000 dollars regardless of number of locations, and state legislature requires licenses to be renewed annually.
In response, three dispensaries filed suit against the state. Judge Mike Menahan struck the law completely, ruling that the state will return to the flat $5,000-per-dispensary licensing fee.
This according to the Montana Free Press
