HB2079 S JUD AMT #1 3-6

Smith 7883

The Committee on Judiciary moved to amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting therefor a new title, to read as follows:

Eng. Com. Sub. for House Bill 2079—A Bill to amend and reenact §16A-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §16A-4-3 of said code; to amend and reenact §16A-6-3 of this code; to amend and reenact §16A-6-13 of said code; to amend and reenact §16A-7-4 of said code; to amend and reenact §16A-8-1 of said code; to amend and reenact §16A-9-1 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto two new sections, designated §16A-9-3 and §16A-9-4; to amend and reenact §16A-10-6 of said code; to amend and reenact §16A-11-1 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §16A-15-10; and to amend and reenact §16A-16-1 of said code, all relating generally to medical cannabis; defining terms; modifying certain definitions; modifying conditions for issuance of patient certifications; expanding practitioner reporting requirements; defining resident for purposes of the act; requiring that state residents own a majority of business entities applying for medical cannabis organization permits; removing regional distribution requirements for growers, processors, and dispensaries; establishing criteria for choosing the locations of dispensary permittees; requiring the Bureau for Public Health to adopt fair and objective evaluation procedures in choosing permittees; requiring numeric scoring of applications; increasing the maximum number of dispensary permits; increasing the number of dispensary permits a person or entity may hold; authorizing persons or entities to hold grower, processor and dispensary permits; authorizing the bureau to oversee testing of medical cannabis; granting a preference to the Department of Agriculture to perform medical cannabis testing; directing that fees for testing of medical cannabis received by the Department of Agriculture be deposited in the Agriculture Feed Fund; authorizing the bureau to contract with persons or entities other than the Department of Agriculture for testing of medical cannabis; removing the requirement that dispensaries have a physician or pharmacist onsite; modifying tax rates and tax procedures related to medical cannabis organizations; authorizing the electronic filing with the Tax Commissioner; directing tax proceeds to be deposited in the Medical Cannabis Program Fund; clarifying applicability of the West Virginia Tax Procedure and Administration Act and the West Virginia Tax Crimes and Penalties Act apply to medical cannabis operations; extending the authority of the bureau to adopt emergency rules until July 1, 2021; adding two osteopathic physicians appointed by the West Virginia Osteopathic Association to the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board; immunizing state officials and employees from causes of action in their personal capacities for actions taken to implement the act; limiting any type of recovery to proceeds of available insurance; obligating the state to defend and indemnify state officials and employees against one type of action brought against them for implementing the act; authorizing pre-certification of patients; maintaining restriction that patient certificates may not be issued until July 1, 2019; and incorporating certain tax offenses and penalties by reference.

Adopted

Rejected