SB 118/LM (BR 1392) - S. West, D. Seum, P. Clark, C. Embry Jr., D. Harper Angel, M. McGarvey, G. Neal, R. Thomas

     AN ACT relating to medical cannabis.
     Create new sections of KRS Chapter 218A to define terms; restrict medical cannabis to certain patients with qualifying debilitating conditions; establish requirements for cultivation, production, processing, distribution, and sale in compassion centers; establish requirements for patients, visiting patients, and caregivers; establish professional protections for practitioners; establish certain protections for cardholders; establish responsibilities for cardholders; allow restrictions on possession, possession while operating a motor vehicle, and smoking; specify that use of medical cannabis by a qualifying patient is to be treated the same as use of prescribed pharmaceutical medications; establish additional protections for medical use; specify that nothing in the bill requires government programs or private insurers to reimburse for the costs of use or prohibits an employer from disciplining an employee for workplace impairment; establish a medical purpose defense for some uses of medical cannabis; establish the Department for Medical Cannabis Administration to enforce the program's provisions; establish requirement that local law enforcement be hired or contracted with for local inspections, investigations, and administrative duties; establish a process for the department to increase the list of debilitating medical conditions; require testing and quality regulation of the production, cultivation, processing, and sale of medical cannabis; establish requirements for licenses, facilities security, transportation, training, packaging, labeling, and health and safety; establish rules on advertising, additives, pesticides, and requiring random sample testing and safe processing; require licensure and issuance of cards for all medical cannabis businesses; establish certain licensure and application fees; require the department to issue registry cards to patients submitting the required information; establish procedures for denying an application; establish technical requirements for cards and for cardholders; establish a provisional licensure process; establish cardholder fees and notification requirements; require 60% of the boards of medical cannabis businesses to be composed of individuals with 3 years of continuous Kentucky residence: establish 3 tiers of medical cannabis business regulation by gross receipts; establish requirements for applying producers, cultivators, distributors, and processors; establish requirements for cultivator businesses, including addressing expansion of crops to meet market needs; establish protections and responsibilities for compassion centers, cultivators, and safety compliance facilities; establish procedures for the department to suspend or revoke registration and licensure; establish rules for local sales, including a requirement that a local legislative body take action to approve medical cannabis businesses; establish a process for local ordinances and ballot initiatives; establish requirements for medical cannabis business agents; prohibit location of a medical cannabis business within a certain distance from a school; establish a requirement that compassion centers obtain usable medical cannabis from only certain licensed entities; establish recordkeeping requirements; protect certain records and information from disclosure via the Kentucky Open Records Act; require establishment of a verification system for use by law enforcement personnel and medical cannabis business agents; establish a 19-member oversight committee to advise the department; require an annual report to be sent to the Legislative Research Commission; establish authority for the department to promulgate administrative regulations; establish a method by which any citizen may commence an action in the Franklin Circuit Court to compel the department to perform its duties; establish an alternative method to create a valid registry identification card if the department fails to act; clarify that the department's duties are administrative in nature; establish a medical cannabis trust fund to receive fees, fines, and registration costs and administer and operate the medical cannabis program; require 5% of trust fund moneys to be returned to the compassion centers for the use of certain indigent persons; amend KRS 218A.1421 to allow and exempt conduct allowed by the medical cannabis program; amend KRS 218A.1422 to allow and exempt conduct allowed by the medical cannabis program; amend KRS 218A.1423 to allow and exempt conduct allowed by the medical cannabis program; amend KRS 12.020 and 12.242 to reflect the creation of the Department for Medical Cannabis Administration.