AUGUSTA — In an effort to give themselves some breathing room, lawmakers overhauling the voter-approved marijuana legalization law Tuesday introduced a bill that would extend the ban on retail sales until May 1.

Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta and chair of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee, proposed extending the moratorium, due to expire on Feb. 1, for another three months. The additional time will allow the committee to continue working on a compromise bill to create regulatory oversight for the state’s emerging recreational retail pot industry. A previous adult-use cannabis bill was vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage in November.

After a recent meeting with LePage, lawmakers convened a public hearing Tuesday on their revised bill to get input from the public and the industry about what they would like the adult-use market to look like in Maine, and what changes they should and shouldn’t make to the first bill in order to get it approved.

In the opening hour of the hearing, several medical marijuana caregivers took the microphone to ask lawmakers to keep adult-use and medical marijuana programs separate. Medical marijuana has been regulated in Maine since 2009, with product supplied by a network of licensed caregivers who grow plants for their clients, and commercial dispensaries. That program is overseen by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Oversight of the recreational market, however, has wavered in rule-making from the state’s agriculture department to its alcohol bureau.

UNDER SCUTINY

The bill crafted by committee members and then vetoed contained measures such as a 20 percent tax rate that gave host towns a cut of marijuana revenue; allowed towns to go dry by opting out of the market; and lifted a cap on retail cultivation in a tiered licensing set-up that favored Maine residents. It delayed social clubs for at least a year.

During the hearing, representatives from Bangor and Portland expressed concern that amendments to the compromise bill would stop municipalities from getting a share of tax revenues, and that, in turn, would prevent them from adequately enforcing and regulating retail marijuana.

In his veto letter, LePage ticked off a list of deficiencies in the original pot bill. It set unrealistic deadlines to launch a new market. It might not raise enough revenue to over regulatory costs. It didn’t tackle worries about an increase in impaired driving.

He chastised the marijuana implementation committee for doing nothing to address failings of the state’s medical marijuana law, or considering how adult use, with its different tax rates and regulatory structure, might affect the medical marijuana program.

But LePage’s biggest worry was with how adult use would put Maine at odds with federal law. He said Maine needed to know if the Trump administration would continue Obama-era policies of allowing states to pursue legalization without threat of federal prosecutions, before launching a new commercial market based on significant public and private investment.

His concern seems especially prescient given U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to rescind those Obama-era protections last week. He is leaving it up to individual U.S. attorneys to decide how to enforce federal marijuana laws.

The U.S. attorney for Maine, Halsey Frank, said late Tuesday that he is bound to enforce federal law, but prosecuting drug possession cases “has not been a priority” for his office. In a news release, he said his office has prioritized the prosecution of cases involving the trafficking of opiates, cocaine, crack and similar hard drugs.

“We have also prosecuted large-scale marijuana distribution organizations and did so even while operating under the recently rescinded DOJ guidance,” he said.

In Massachusetts, where state officials are writing regulations to implement its recreational market, the new U.S. attorney said on Monday he would not rule out the federal prosecution of participants in the state-level marijuana trade.

Needless to say, the Sessions’ rescission has done nothing to alleviate LePage’s concerns.

“Until there is more clarity at federal levels in terms of enforcement, people who own or invest in marijuana-related businesses may be putting assets at risk and people who use marijuana may run afoul of federal law,” said Julie Rabinowitz, a LePage spokeswoman, on Monday.

LePage discussed this concern with the leaders of the legislative committee that wrote the last bill in December. Rabinowitz called the meeting positive and productive. The next steps toward implementation fall to the Legislature, she said Monday.

Maine is one of nine states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Maine voters approved the issue at the ballot box in November 2016, but the Legislature delayed all but the personal possession and cultivation aspects of the law until lawmakers could figure out a licensing structure. The moratorium will expire next month.