A Colorado Senate committee has rejected a bill that would have increased supervision of commercial marijuana businesses.

Senate Bill 149 would have created new reporting requirements for such marijuana business violations as sales to underage minors, contaminated product recalls and black market activity; it also called for increased dispensary inspections by the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.

Proponents of the bill had presented it as a path toward better protection of Colorado children while aligning state policies more closely with alcohol and tobacco enforcement, but marijuana industry stakeholders labeled it as an attempt to push for more restrictions on the business.

Colorado marijuana dispensaries passed underage sales checks at a 95 percent rate in 2021, according to the MED, slightly down from 97 percent in 2020 and 2019. The MED conducted 604 underage compliance checks at dispensaries in 2019, according to department data, but that number dropped to 118 in 2020 and 80 in 2021.