Members of a board tasked with overseeing how Prince George’s County spends cannabis tax revenue rebuked County Council members Monday over a bill that they say threatens the board’s oversight of millions of dollars.

The 11-member County Council voted 7-2, with one member abstaining and another absent, to pass a bill removing the board’s authority to “issue” funding meant for organizations and initiatives serving those most harmed by the decades-long war on drugs.

The bill instead directs the board to “recommend how to spend” the money. The council will “be responsible for approving the disbursement of all awards,” according to the bill.

Board members and their allies said in interviews after the vote that they plan to appeal to County Executive Aisha Braveboy to veto the measure.

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“Have we not seen enough in the news with all the scrutiny and allegations surrounding this council and the steering of millions of dollars of grant funding in this county?” said community advocate Dawn Dalton. “It is embarrassing and arrogant that you are even putting this bill up for consideration.”

Maryland legalized recreational cannabis in 2023, and state lawmakers voted to allocate 35% of cannabis sales and use tax revenue for local jurisdictions.

The County Council created the Cannabis Reinvestment and Restoration Board — which the bill has renamed the Community Reinvestment and Restoration Board — to oversee and award funding the county receives.

Cannabis board Chair Crystal Carpenter said the bill left unclear the extent of the council’s control over the funding, including whether it would have authority to change grant amounts or award funding to organizations not selected by the board.

“This is not a slush fund to shift according to individual council members’ priorities,” Carpenter said.

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Council member Tim Adams pushed back during the meeting.

“This is not a money grab. This is not a power grab,” he said. “And that’s what we as a council are to make sure of.”

Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, who sponsored the bill, said her hope is “that eventually these funds will actually get to the residents of Prince George’s County.”

Council attorney Joseph Hamlin said during the meeting that the bill “does not create new authority” for the council.

But Yanet Amanuel, public policy director for the ACLU of Maryland, said that’s untrue. She said after the council’s vote that the bill “shifts it so that the board is just an advisory board, and the council has final say.”

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Several of those who testified against the bill also chided the council for its persistent lack of punctuality — recent meetings have begun an hour or more after they’re scheduled start — and for rearranging the order in which they took up certain bills.

“A lot of people have taken off of work. And I have eight critical-care patients that I’m supposed to be tending to in the ICU across the street,” said Dr. Rachel Jordan, a member of the board.

She said she had to ask her colleagues for help because of the length of the delay.

District 5 resident Tamara McKinney said the manner in which the council has presented itself to community members at meetings has been “deplorable.”

She said that rather than meeting people’s eyes, council members have been on their phones and shuffling around to speak with each other.

“Your community does not appreciate that behavior,” she said.