Previewing Cannabis Bills Filed for the 2024 Oklahoma Legislative Session
This session's bills play on fentanyl fears and also dredge up old language that has yet to pass into law for another political play during election season.
The Oklahoma Legislature’s filing deadline for all bills and resolutions was last week, and over 4000 pieces of legislation dropped for another round of ‘keep state government working, sort of’ sausage making. There is a fantastic overview of the weirdest and wildest covered by OK Policy, and for cannabis specific and cannabis adjacent bills, we will highlight some in this post.
The Inevitable Hemp Bills
OMMA and by extension respectively CANNRA, seek the language in the Farm Bill at the federal level clarified on hemp-derived cannabinoids and their products and also any related language at the state level as it relates to regulating medical cannabis. As it stands currently the language is vague and leaves loopholes for “thca flower” and delta-8 products to be sold with little oversight. THCa is simply un-activated delta-9THC, so most of these bills just change the language slightly.
HB3011 - by Smith [R] Agriculture; Oklahoma Industrial Hemp Program; effective date. SB3011 - adds "total" in front of "delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%), require criminal background checks of participants in the hemp program and defines participants (this and SB1934 are very similar)
SB1934 - by Kidd [R] - Agriculture: Oklahoma Industrial Hemp Program; modifying definitions. Effective date.; SB1934 - adds "total" in front of "delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%)" and in a few other instances throughout to make industrial hemp more defined to low total thc (as opposed to inclusive of thca flower)
SB1422 - by Pederson [R]- Industrial hemp; creating the Oklahoma Industrial Hemp Task Force. Emergency.; Summary; SB1422 creates a 6-member un-compensated state govt leadership appointed task force for setting hemp regulations (including THC limits), submitting a report to Gov and leadership by December 2026.
SB1980 - by Paxton [R] - Medical marijuana; redefining marijuana to include a hemp-derived cannabinoid product. Effective date. ; SB1980 adds definition for hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
Bills Dealing With Patient Rights and Accessing Cannabis
If you followed last session, you will see some familiar bills here. Also some bills are still showing treatment of cannabis as medicine as anything but that, while it’s definitely treated as a political prop.
SB1219 - Sen Stanley (R) Medical marijuana; extending period of validity for certain veteran licenses. Effective date. ; SB 1219 extends the period a medical marijuana patient card remains valid for a 100% disabled veteran from 2 years to 10 years. (note: only those with the 100% disabled veteran distinction with the state)
SB1634 by Coleman [R] - Medical marijuana; requiring certain medical marijuana products to be in pre-packaged form. Effective date. ; SB1634 is the 2024 session attempt yet again to force pre-packaging. It's the pre-packaging bill again. ** Note - this is almost verbatim like the original HB4287 filed by Rep. Dean Davis from a previous session.
SB1747 by Garvin [R] - SB1747 is another pre-packaging bill, like past attempts, and also SB1634 this session. Since there are two, either may be heard or both, as past sessions saw multiple bills for signage or similar regulations, likely in hopes by lawmakers at least one would pass or work through conference committees successfully.
SB1748 by Garvin [R] - Medical marijuana; modifying requirements for recommending physicians of minor patient; requiring qualifying medical conditions for recommendations; requiring in-person examination. Effective date. ; this is Garvin's bill from last year, with qualifying conditions and in-person recs required for minors, OMMA would set the conditions.
SB1753 by Garvin [R] - Medical marijuana; directing promulgation of rules to impose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) potency limits; prohibiting sale of certain products. Effective date. ; SB1753 is Garvin's bill from last session with a 1000mg THC cap (maximum) on edibles per package.
SB1608 by Daniels [R] - Oklahoma Self-Defense Act; modifying elements of eligibility. Effective date ; SB1608 is about not denying a handgun license pursuant to the SDA solely on the basis of having a MMJ card. For additional context here's OSBI's page and pdf handout on that.
SB1756 by Seifried [R] - Child custody; removing exception to certain training requirements; requiring court to consider certain factor in custody determinations. Effective date. SB1756 deals with including at custody hearings consideration of "Has had custody, guardianship, or visitation rights terminated due to failure to complete or participate in any courtordered substance abuse or mental health treatment" ; here are screenshots from the text one; two
SB1549 by Boren [D] - Child endangerment; creating felony offense for exposure to certain substance. Effective date. ; verbatim text of SB1549 is added to felony child endangerment statute — "Knowingly exposes a child to secondhand smoke of marijuana or a drug or screening test of a child indicates the presence of tetrahydrocannabinols" ; At this time Senator Boren has said due to constituent response she will be changing this bill but it is still an important one to watch.
Bills Affecting Businesses
There are additional land use bills filed, and more bills related to use of utilities like water in relation to grows. Also bills about licensing and compliance and adding new annual fees/surcharges for some strange reasons, like to contribute to a random state tourism fund. There is also an impractical bill that seeks mandating hiring pharmacists for every dispensary.
SB1979 - by Bullard [R] - Medical marijuana; requiring a licensed pharmacist to dispense medical marijuana. Effective date. ; SB1979 would mandate hiring of a defined "dispensary manager" that is a licensed with Oklahoma's State Board of Pharmacy.
SB1352 by Bullard [R] - Reservoirs; creating the Reservoir Capital Investment Fund and the Water Sustainability Revolving Fund for purposes of reservoir construction; authorizing a fee for water used for growing commercial marijuana. Effective date. SB1352 as introduced would charge a fee of $1.25 per 1000 gallons of water to commercial growers, and for those on well water require a meter to be installed on those wells for the same reason.
SB1945 by Hamilton [R] - Medical marijuana; requiring medical marijuana businesses to adhere to certain advertising restrictions. Effective date. ; SB1945 adds more restrictions on advertising, cannot say that legal cannabis is safe for use in any statements.
SB1247 - Sen Burns(R) - Medical marijuana; requiring certain information be submitted and posted on businesses. Effective date. ; SB 1247 requires any marijuana-licensed premises, medical marijuana business, or premises seeking medical marijuana licensure prior to construction to list each building trade contractor license number or the employee information for exempted employees performing work otherwise requiring a trade license if the premises or business claims an employee exemption from licensing for electrical or mechanical work.
SB1286 Sen. David Bullard [R] - Medical marijuana; implementing a new annual surcharge fee with proceeds to be deposited into certain funds. Effective date. SB 1286 levies a $1,000.00 surcharge in addition to applicable medical marijuana business license fees. The measure provides that $500.00 of the fee shall be deposited into the County Sheriff Public Safety Grant Revolving Fund and $500.00 shall be deposited into the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department Revolving Fund.
SB1995 by Howard [R] - Multiple versions of statutes relating to Medical Marijuana; amending, merging, consolidating and repealing multiple versions of statutes. Emergency. SB1995 adds some clarifying language and parts that are already in existence in other bills.
SB1635 by Coleman [R] - Medical marijuana; requiring an affidavit for license renewal under certain circumstance. Effective date. SB1635 deals with affidavits for municipal code inspections to be included in business compliance.
SB1750 by Garvin [R] - Medical marijuana; requiring additional education for physicians recommending medical marijuana licensure; requiring certain education for dispensary employees. Effective date. ; SB1750 is from last session and would require a registry for recommending doctors, continuing ed for dispensary workers to maintain their worker credential, some types of events would be banned.
HB3355 by Marti [R] Medical marijuana; providing exception to certificate of compliance requirements; effective date. ; HB3355 gives provisions for renewal compliance affidavits under certain circumstances
HB1014 by Olsen [R] is a bill from 2023 and 2022 that did not pass but looks like it may have been carried over, we’ve been getting reports it’s still not dead so this is on the list here as a 'just in case’ for businesses- it would add “places of worship” to distancing requirements for dispensaries but the distance would be 900 ft (the rule is currently 1000 ft for schools and any municipal/special zoning that varies by area) and expands the definition for “places of worship” in this context to include some rented and borrowed spaces.
Fentanyl Fears
First, if you want the some fentanyl facts- here are 7 minutes of them by a toxicologist, about this ubiquitous substance that has been used in clinical settings in surgeries, it’s been used in epidurals, and for serious pain.
In terms of playing on those fears, most have probably seen the headlines that former Dept of Corrections and Fraternal Order of Police VP, Rep. Justin Humphrey has proposed, designating Hispanic persons as “terrorists”. Fentanyl is his reasoning for this, and he has also filed to shell bills that have ‘fentanyl’ and ‘human trafficking’ in their titles. Shell bills are bills that have no substantive language, but substitute text or amendments may be added later. ‘Fentanyl’ and ‘human trafficking’ are both under the purview of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
HB3133 - by Humphrey [R] - Crimes and punishments; deeming certain persons convicted of certain crimes as having committed acts of terrorism; codification; effective date. This bill is is not likely pass but it has definitely grabbed the attention of media.
Other bills add to the criminalization of those involved around the instances of fentanyl use rather than setting up harm reduction programs, though there is a bill that expands the Good Samaritan Act to include naloxone administration (a bare minimum)
SB1280 by Weaver [R] - Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act; modifying elements of certain felony offenses. Effective date. SB1280 provides that combining fentanyl with any other controlled dangerous substance shall subject violators to the same term of imprisonment and fine levied against persons found to have manufactured or attempted to unlawfully manufacture any controlled dangerous substance. The measure also specifies that such individuals shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections. (Fun fact: Oklahoma State Senator Weaver was a former director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics)
SB1740 by Gollihare [R] - Substance abuse services; clarifying applicability of certain liability protections; broadening the Good Samaritan Act. Emergency. - SB1740 adds administering Naloxone (narcan) /opioid antagonists in the Good Samaritan Act.
With all these bills… What Next?
Next the bills are routed to respective committees in the OK House and OK Senate; several may not get out of committee at all but those that will go to a full chamber vote. There’s also the possibility the title is struck on some of them so that means something will be changed via amendments. Some bills may get amendments or substitutes right away in committees also, as some legislators have stated in releases they shall already be changing some introduced bill language.
During this time you can track the bills but also reach out to your representation and those in the OK Legislature who are voting on the bills and tell them your views.
The session starts February 5th.