Oklahoma’s House Bill 2646 would make minor changes to the state’s already established medical cannabis guidelines and regulations. It would clear up any uncertainty and provide more regulation for the growing industry.

According to the bill summary, some of the critical changes HB 2646 would make to the medical cannabis statute are as follows:

• The State Department of Health (OSDH) would have 90 days to review a grower, processor, or dispensary license application instead of two weeks.
• The bill would allow an individual to put a medical cannabis dispensary near school properties that are not used for classroom instruction curriculum and are not on the same campus as a building used for such do not constitute a school.
• In addition to rehabilitation, the bill would allocate 25% of the 7% sales tax to the OSDH from drug and alcohol prevention.
• The bill would require medical cannabis businesses to submit a certificate of compliance with relevant zoning codes when requesting to change locations.
• The legislation would no longer require the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) or ODSH to notify a business 24 hours before inspection or investigation.
• It puts penalties in place for medical cannabis businesses who inaccurately or fraudulently report sales or purchases.
• Would permit the ODSH to issue a written order to any licensee suspected to violate rules and regulations unless he or she was given a written warning 30 days prior. Unless the licensee requests an administrative hearing within 30 days after receiving the order, the hearing becomes final.
• Prohibits individuals involved in management operations of a medical cannabis business or facility who had its license revoked, not renewed or surrendered from certain violations from receiving a business, research facility, education facility or waste disposal facility license.
• Forbid testing laboratories contracted with the OMMA from being owned or employing any individual who has interest in a medical cannabis business or any individual or family member who has a pending licensing application, is a member of the board of directors or is individually financially interested in any medical cannabis license or business.
• It would no longer require medical cannabis products to have a label indicating the product contains Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
  

RELATED: Oklahoma House Passes Bill to Limit Medical Cannabis Licenses

A complete list of revisions can be found here.

The legislation will head to the Senate Appropriations Committee next for approval. 

This is a developing story. We have updated this story to reflect the governor's signing of the bill.

Following quick votes in Senate and Assembly committees Tuesday evening, the New York legislature passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act and sent it to Gov. Andrew Cuomo—who has signed it into law and made New York the 17th state to legalize adult-use cannabis.

The law will go into effect immediately, as of Cuomo’s signing, but the actual marketplace is expected to take upwards of two years to develop before sales are open to the eligible public. 

"For generations, too many New Yorkers have been unfairly penalized for the use and sale of adult-use cannabis, arbitrarily arrested and jailed with harsh mandatory minimum sentences. After years of tireless advocacy and extraordinarily hard work, that time is coming to an end in New York State," Cuomo said in a public statement. 

Since his reelection, when candidate Cynthia Nixon made cannabis a central issue of New York state politics, Cuomo has vocally supported the idea of cannabis legalization. Originally, it was part of the 2021 state budget plan, but lawmakers decided to tackle it as a separate issue.

“Make no mistake about it, New York has made history by ensuring marijuana reform is on track to become the law of the land," Melissa Moore, New York State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said. "Through the hard work of people impacted by prohibition, advocates and champion lawmakers, like Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Senator Liz Krueger, New York has taken bold action to put a nail in the coffin of the war on drugs."

According to a state press release, the New York law contains the following provisions:

• The Office of Cannabis Management would be required to enforce a comprehensive regulatory framework regarding adult-use, medical and cannabinoid hemp, governed by a five-member board, with three members appointed by the governor, one appointed by each house. 

• It would increase the number of allotted caregivers per patient, allow home cultivation of medical cannabis for patients and permit people with a substantial list of medical conditions to access medical cannabis.

• The agreement would establish a two-tier licensing structure that would allow for an extensive range of producers by separating processors and growers from owning licensed stores.

• It would establish a social and economic equity plan to assist individuals impacted by cannabis enforcement. It would also create a goal to have 50% of licenses go to minority or women-owned business enterprises, service-disabled veterans or distressed farmers.

• The legislation proposes to establish a new cannabis tax structure. The wholesale excise tax would be moved to the retail level with a 9% state excise tax, the local excise tax would be 4% of the retail price, and counties would receive 25% of the local retail tax revenue with 75% going to the municipality. 

• The agreement would also permit the sale of hemp flower and smokable hemp forms only when adult-use stores are operating.

• The agreement would allow for adults 21 years and older to possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of cannabis concentrate outside of their home.

• The legislation proposes permitting individuals 21 years and older to grow three mature and three immature plants for personal use, with up to six mature and six immature plants per household.

Cannabis taxes will be deposited into the New York State Cannabis Revenue Fund, a new envelope of state money that will be directed across three categories: 

• 40% to education

• 40% to community grants reinvestment fund

• 20% to drug treatment and public education fund

“I believe my bill is reasonable and fair, and takes into consideration the opportunities and risks of cannabis,” Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes said on the floor Tuesday.

One of the main hang-ups that presented itself in recent debate was the issue of New York residents driving while intoxicated by cannabis—an open question that has previously stalled legislative progress in Vermont and elsewhere. The state of New York will be conducting ongoing studies to manage traffic law enforcement as it relates to legal cannabis, but it’s unclear what that will look like. This is one reason, lawmakers noted, why the law provides an extended time table to implement the measure as a regulated program.

The legislation builds on experience gleaned within the state’s medical cannabis market, which went live in early 2016. Now, 10 licensed medical cannabis businesses serve more than 143,000 patients in that space. 

"Almost seven years ago, Assemblyman Dick Gottfried and I made history in New York by bringing medical cannabis to the thousands of New Yorkers who were suffering from chronic conditions," State Sen. Diane Savino said in a public statement. "Since that time, we have built upon the original program to improve access to patients and remove barriers. Today, we continue those efforts and it will lead to a better program for all. I want to thank Senator Krueger and Assemblywoman Peoples-Stokes for their attention to the needs of our medical cannabis community."

Those licensed medical cannabis businesses will be able to enter the adult-use market on a limited basis, according to Peoples-Stokes, and their experience will be helpful to prospective entrepreneurs and executives interested in working in the new market environment. 

"Etain is excited and optimistic about the potential of fully legalized cannabis for New Yorkers,” said Hillary Peckham, COO of licensed medical cannabis operator Etain Health. “Providing safe access to high quality cannabis products and helping New Yorkers achieve a better quality of life has been our mission since we began 6 years ago. We support and commend the writers of the MRTA and are looking forward to what the future holds. As the first and only women-owned licensee in the State, we are especially excited about the aggressive goals for a diverse and inclusive cannabis industry."

New York joins the commonwealth of Virginia in passing an adult-use legalization bill through the state legislature in 2021 (although Virginia’s measure will not take effect until 2024). Other U.S. states are quickly advancing their own approaches to a regulated adult-use market, and it appears that New Mexico is prepared to follow suit as soon as this week.

New York’s adult-use cannabis legislation efforts gained official approval in the Senate Committee on Finance during a brief meeting Tuesday morning, when the 23-member body opened Senate Bill S854A for discussion before voting to clear it.

In addition to acting as the committee chair, Sen. Liz Krueger (D) is the primary sponsor of the bill, the “Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act,” which she first introduced seven years ago. The bill recently picked up steam March 28, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced an agreement to move forward on it after months of debate, which included Cuomo’s 30-day amendment plan.

The Senate Finance Committee members united Tuesday morning to show their support of Krueger’s sponsorship efforts, but they remained mixed in their individual support of the legislation.

“Madam Chair, thank you very much,” Sen. John Liu (D) said. “I just want to congratulate you on a really long, persistent and hard-fought road, and I think this legislation is landmark for New York, as well as far beyond, and I’m in full support.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R) said he did not want to debate the legislation in committee, specifically regarding the finance issues related to the bill, but he said he anticipates a full and robust debate and discussion of the legislation on the floor of the upper chamber Tuesday afternoon.

O’Mara was one of five senators who opposed clearing the measure through committee; he was joined by Sens. George Borrello (R), Patrick Gallivan (R), Sue Serino (R) and James Tedisco (R).

While he dissented, Gallivan applauded Krueger’s sponsorship efforts: “You are to be commended for your hard work. You have always been an incredibly hard worker and standing up for the things you believe in,” he said. “This bill is one of those things. I’ll be voting against it, though.

“I remain extremely concerned, as do many of my constituents who have reached out over time and the last couple days about public health and public safety aspects of this in workplace safety concerns. And I would hope—I know we have a ways to go—once this gets out and it’s passed, there’s a lot of work to be done to adopt the regulations, but there’s also a lot of time to work in the areas that will need improvement.”

Concerns have also extended to the possibilities of impaired driving and increased consumption among minors in other states considering adult-use legislation.

Also central to discussion among many states currently considering adult-use legislation are efforts for social equity through taking into considering the people and communities impacted by prohibition. Sen. Leroy Comrie, a Black Democrat whose 14th District includes Queens, a borough of New York City, said he supports his state’s bill and righting the wrongs of prohibition.

“My community has been negatively impacted by marijuana, and the sales and distribution issues, and also the people that have been unjustly incarcerated overwhelmingly, and also the social impacts on marijuana as well,” he said. “And I look forward to having these opportunities to have meetings and hearings so that we can make sure that the communities that have been most impacted are getting the opportunities, getting the resources necessary to clear up those historical problems that have happened within our communities.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 0816 into Michigan law on March 24 to update the state’s Industrial Hemp Growers Act to ensure it aligns with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) final hemp rule, which went into effect on March 22.

RELATED: USDA Final Rule Will Move Ahead As Planned

Gary McDowell, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), said in a press release that updating the state’s Industrial Hemp Growers Act was crucial for maintaining regulatory certainty for hemp cultivation. 

Some critical updates to Michigan’s Industrial Hemp Grower’s Act, according to the press release, include: 

• The hemp harvest window has increased from 15 to 30 days.  
• The grower registration cycle has changed from Dec. 1 – Nov. 30 to Feb. 1 – Jan. 31. (Grower registrations already issued for the 2021 growing season will be valid until Jan. 31, 2022.)
• Growers can now remediate non-compliant hemp instead of disposing of it. (Remediated hemp still requires post-remediation sampling to make sure it is compliant with the legal THC level.) 
• The negligence threshold has been raised from 0.5% to 1%. The maximum number of negligent violations a grower can receive in a calendar year has been limited to one.  
• All laboratories testing industrial hemp must be registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). This will go into effect on Dec. 31, 2022.

In its final rule on hemp, the USDA modified sampling provisions allowing states to develop performance-based sampling requirements. This added flexibility lets the MDARD consider variables such as seed certification, grower compliance and variety performance when developing its sampling plan. 

Additional information about the bill can be found here.