{"id":80696,"date":"2025-03-26T06:29:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T14:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/nebraska-bill-to-implement-voter-passed-medical-marijuana-law-awaits-changes-ahead-of-committee-vote\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T19:46:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T03:46:57","slug":"nebraska-bill-to-implement-voter-passed-medical-marijuana-law-awaits-changes-ahead-of-committee-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/nebraska-bill-to-implement-voter-passed-medical-marijuana-law-awaits-changes-ahead-of-committee-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska Bill To Implement Voter-Passed Medical Marijuana Law Awaits Changes Ahead Of Committee Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to regulate it so that the people that need it are getting it but it doesn\u2019t turn into something that eventually evolves into recreational use.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legislative committee mulling how to help implement Nebraska\u2019s voter-led medical cannabis laws awaits an amendment before lawmakers vote on whether to advance the bill.<\/p>\n

Legislative Bill 677, from state Sen. Ben Hansen (R-Blair), seeks to help carry out the overwhelming voter approval to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in the state last fall. His bill would create a regulatory structure for licensing and detail how patients or caregivers could become registered to obtain up to five ounces of physician-recommended cannabis at one time.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Rick Holdcroft (R-Bellevue), chair of the Legislature\u2019s General Affairs Committee, said last week that he and seven other committee members were awaiting a final amendment that could help the currently deadlocked committee decide whether to advance the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people have spoken, and we need to put in place the best possible regulatory structure,\u201d Holdcroft told the Nebraska Examiner.<\/p>\n

Hansen has said one key change in his amendment would be tracking medical cannabis through the state\u2019s prescription drug monitoring program, similar to the process for opioids. At least nine states use a local prescription drug monitoring program to carry out local medicinal cannabis laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Blair senator has also voiced support for defining a \u201cqualifying medical condition\u201d for which a health care practitioner may recommend the drug and requiring that a physician be required to be appointed to one of the two at-large spots on the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission charged with regulating and implementing the laws.<\/p>\n

The new commission automatically includes the three commissioners of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Under current law, the governor has the option to appoint two more members.<\/p>\n

\u2018The people have spoken\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), have urged the Legislature to take no action on the laws. Hilgers\u2019s office has threatened legal action if the new commission licenses new businesses later this year or in the future.<\/p>\n

However, every member of the General Affairs Committee in talking with the Examiner said some legislation could be helpful in upholding the will of the people.<\/p>\n

Holdcroft, as chair, has already designated LB 677<\/a> as one of his committee\u2019s two 2025 priority bills, increasing the chances the bill would be debated by the full Legislature, if it moves forward.<\/p>\n

The final amendment could be key to LB 677\u2019s prospects this year as Holdcroft and state Sens. John Cavanaugh (D-Omaha), Dan Quick (D-Grand Island) and Victor Rountree (D-Bellevue) have already voiced support for advancing the bill. The bill needs at least five votes to advance to the floor.<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh, the committee vice chair, as well as Quick and Rountree, said the will of the people is clear about legalized medicinal cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we should disturb that as little as possible while giving structure to it,\u201d Cavanaugh said.<\/p>\n

Rountree echoed that \u201cthe people are wise,\u201d while Quick noted medical cannabis could be the right alternative for some people compared to opioid prescriptions.<\/p>\n

Committee member caution<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other half of the committee still has some concerns. State Sens. Bob Andersen (R) of north-central Sarpy County, Stan Clouse (R-Kearney), Barry DeKay (R-Niobrara) and Jared Storm (R-David City). Storm brought a competing cannabis-related bill to the committee this year that would limit the forms of legal medical cannabis with a much smaller legal amount.<\/p>\n

Much of the caution centers on a desire to prevent a legal path in the future toward recreational marijuana. Some senators also have said they are concerned because the substance remains listed as a Schedule I drug by the federal government. Federal agencies have taken steps toward reclassification, and President Donald Trump has also voiced support for legalized cannabis.<\/p>\n

Thirty-eight other states legalized medicinal cannabis before Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to maintain the will of the people, but we need to do it in a responsible way,\u201d Andersen said last week.<\/p>\n

Clouse and DeKay said they would like to limit or eliminate smoking as an acceptable form of taking or ingesting medical cannabis. Public smoking is already prohibited under the state\u2019s Clean Indoor Air Act passed in 2008, similar to cigarettes and vapes.<\/p>\n

DeKay said his preference would be limiting medicinal cannabis to pills, oils or ointments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will support medical marijuana but it may not be totally in agreement with what everybody wants to on the committee,\u201d DeKay said.<\/p>\n

Under the voter-approved laws, medical cannabis is legal in all forms with a written physician\u2019s recommendation. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services had not issued any guidance on the laws as of earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Clouse and Storm have said a physician should serve on the commission, and Clouse said the fifth spot should be reserved for a law enforcement representative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a need and use for medicinal cannabis and marijuana,\u201d Clouse said. \u201cI think we need to regulate it so that the people that need it are getting it but it doesn\u2019t turn into something that eventually evolves into recreational use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group that spearheaded the ballot initiative, has focused its attention on\u00a0 Andersen, Clouse and DeKay to find one more vote to get LB 677 to the floor.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has not weighed in on Hansen\u2019s bill but in December, when signing the measures into law<\/a>, joined Hilgers in stating that \u201cserious issues\u201d remained about the validity and legality of the laws.<\/p>\n

\u2018Genie out of the bottle\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Storm in January brought LB 483<\/a> to limit permissible cannabis forms to pills and liquid tinctures, but he\u2019s since said he is open to oils, creams, ointments, suppositories or nebulizers. He\u2019s pointed to the medical program in Iowa that prohibits smoking cannabis in any form.<\/p>\n

A freshman senator from David City, Storm said at his bill\u2019s hearing that he has sympathy for those suffering but is focused on getting the regulations right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we slow walk it and we get this right, because if we get it wrong, you let the genie out of the bottle, you\u2019re not getting it back in,\u201d Storm said earlier this month, suggesting delaying action to 2026. \u201cSo we slow walk this, do what\u2019s right, truly help people the best we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilgers said last week at a news conference that the February 28 amendment from Hansen risked rewriting the voter-approved process and creating \u201can entire infrastructure and licensing scheme to set the stage for recreational marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the will of the people to take an opening on medicinal marijuana, rip up the regulatory structure passed by the people, and pass something that appears to have been drafted entirely by, or mostly, by out-of-state interests who want to exploit the Nebraska market for their own particular profit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hilgers encouraged anyone interested in the issue, which he described as \u201cmost Nebraskans,\u201d to read Hansen\u2019s latest amendment \u201cand walk away with any other impression other than this is set up for a recreational marijuana industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilgers\u2019s office opposed LB 677 and threatened legal action against the Medical Cannabis Commission if it licenses businesses. Hilgers said his office would have \u201cmore to say in the coming days and weeks\u201d on the proposals.<\/p>\n

Hansen has repeatedly pushed back on criticisms that his bill could lead to recreational marijuana use, telling the committee that is a conversation for the future while his bill seeks to address and avoid the potential \u201cWild West\u201d if no bills are passed this year.<\/p>\n

Holdcroft the past two years voted against recreational marijuana on the Judiciary Committee, but, medicinally, \u201cthe people have spoken,\u201d he said. Like Hansen, Holdcroft too has pushed back on the Attorney General\u2019s Office, which would have a dedicated assistant attorney general under LB 677 to assist the commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m hearing here\u2026is the attorney general wants us to keep this law stupid, where he can find some loopholes in it and make it illegal,\u201d Holdcroft told a representative of the AG\u2019s office at LB 677\u2019s hearing. \u201cThe Legislature just isn\u2019t that kind of body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Wait and see\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tight deadlines present another set of wrinkles in setting up the new medical cannabis laws.<\/p>\n

Under the voter-approved law, the Medical Cannabis Commission has until July 1 to establish criteria to accept or deny applications for registered establishments. Registrations must begin by October 1.<\/p>\n

Hobert Rupe, executive director of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, who under Hansen\u2019s bill could serve the same role on the Medical Cannabis Commission, told the General Affairs Committee and Appropriations Committee last week that his team has no budget for the medical cannabis work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you\u2019re aware, the public passed the initiatives,\u201d Rupe told the Appropriations Committee on Thursday. \u201cWell, what they did was they created an agency without any budget or any staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rupe said those funds could come either through the next two-year state budget or an accompanying appropriation through Hansen\u2019s bill, if passed. Without a budget, the commissioners can\u2019t have a public hearing without paying for or creating a public hearing notice.<\/p>\n

The Examiner asked state Sen. Rob Clements (R-Elmwood), chair of the Appropriations Committee, on Thursday, before Rupe\u2019s budget hearing, what the committee would do with the new commission. Clements said it was the first he had heard of the new commission and its budget.<\/p>\n

Rupe told Clements\u2019s committee that getting a cannabis bill out of committee could help him and his commissioners \u201chang our hat on\u201d it taking effect and plan ahead, given the timeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that whatever comes out of the Legislature\u2026might extend those deadlines a little bit,\u201d Rupe said. \u201cEven so, even if that\u2019s extended, that\u2019s not a lot of time to do a stand-up agency, even if they are sharing resources with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest amendment to Hansen\u2019s bill would delay the initial rulemaking to October 1 and set a first round of applications between October 13 and December 15. Those applications would need to be approved or denied by March 16, 2026.<\/p>\n

Of the budget, Clements told Rupe of Hansen\u2019s pending bill: \u201dI guess we\u2019ll have to wait and see what comes out there then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hansen\u2019s bill, because it would amend legal language from a ballot measure, would require at least 33 votes to take effect, regardless of any filibuster, under the Nebraska Constitution.<\/p>\n

Timeline of legal challenges<\/h3>\n

John Kuehn v. Secretary of State Bob Evnen<\/em> and ballot sponsors Anna Wishart, Crista Eggers and Adam Morfeld (alleging fraud and that ballot measures should not have been put on the ballot)<\/p>\n