LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Concerns are growing over the emergency rules and regulations of medical cannabis passed Thursday by the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission.

Nebraska State Sen. Ben Hansen said he had introduced a bill that would have provided guidance and made the transition much smoother.

In the last Legislative session, Hansen defended LB 677.

“We’ve never done it before. We’ve always given legislative approval for fees, for sources of revenue for guardrails, for rules. We do represent the people, the executive branch does not,” he said.

The bill’s intent is to deal with the implementation of the medical cannabis initiative passed by Nebraska voters.

“On this table, you guys are seeing hot off the press some draft regulations, emergency regulations,” said Lorrell Mueting, member of the commission.

But instead, the commission is dealing with an emergency – approving a set of emergency regulations with a time limit to come up with a set of permanent regulations.

“Unfortunately, they cannot. So they need taxing authority from the Legislature in order to do that. So right now, this is one of the concerns I think I have, and many other people in the State of Nebraska is how they are going to pay for all this,” Hansen said.

“So right now, we have to give them taxing authority in order to tax medical cannabis, get revenue from medical cannabis in order to pay for the board and the people they’re going to need to make sure it’s implemented properly.”

Hansen said the rules and regulations should be set in place by lawmakers, and the commissions’ emergency rules might be something lawmakers have to fix.

“I would assume so, yes. I was hoping we would be able to fix this beforehand, I think that’s good governance – is making sure that we has representatives fo the people are doing our job and making sure that we put the proper guardrails in place to make sure the roll out is done approprraitly, the revenue is there.”

Hansen said the commission is trying to create rules and regulations that are trying to change what is already in the language of the medical cannabis initiative, approved by more than 70% of Nebraska voters.

“So right now, they’re saying you cannot use any of the raw plant, but in the ballot language it says you need to use the raw plant,” he said. “So I think that’s going to create some problems from an industry standpoint, which could potentially lead to lawsuits, which could cost the taxpayers millions of dollars.”

Hansen said Nebraskans will have to wait and see how the commission navigates the situation.

“They’re putting things in place with rules and regulations by the commission, but time will tell on whether it’s being used appropriately or the language is being used as a weapon to go after medical cannabis down the road.”

Hansen added that his bill can be brought before the Legislature again next session in January.

Racing to beat a deadline looming next week, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission voted 4-0 on Thursday to adopt emergency regulations, which are temporary. Kim Lowe, who also serves on the state liquor board, was absent.

Now the public has until July 15 to comment and help the commission draft a set of official regulations.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Those wishing to give input or comment on permanent regulations for medical cannabis in Nebraska should email the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission at lcc.frontdesk@nebraska.gov.

Comments are due by July 15.

The medical marijuana regulation law, signed by Gov. Jim Pillen in December, requires the state to have licensing regulations in place by July 1 — Tuesday — so it can start granting applications for medical cannabis businesses by Oct. 1.

Pillen also has to sign off on the emergency regulations, putting them immediately into effect for 90 days. The rules must then be published on the Medical Cannabis Commission’s website, which doesn’t yet exist.

Read the documents

EMERGENCY RULES

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

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Digital Director Gina Dvorak, News Director Cassie Crowe, and Anchor Brian Mastre contributed to this report.

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