Committee approves oversight for medical-marijuana testing labs, adds practitioner-registry authority

The House Health Committee on Friday reported House Bill 33 affirmatively after the committee incorporated two amendments that add practitioner-registry oversight and technical testing safeguards.

Committee staff explained the bill’s main provisions: testing laboratories that analyze medical-marijuana products would have to submit standard operating procedures at initial application and renewal and within 30 days of any modification. Laboratories already approved under the program may continue testing until their next renewal date but must submit their standard operating procedures within 120 days of the act taking effect.

“House Bill 33 provides oversight of medical marijuana testing laboratories by the Department of Health,” a committee staff member summarized. The staff explanation said the department would be required to perform inspections, facilitate annual quality-assurance testing, and establish required accreditation levels for labs. The bill would allow the department to audit products at dispensaries by using a different approved lab, a lab not participating in the program that the department contracts, or by establishing a department reference lab.

The staff summary also said that tests performed for compliance, stability, research and development, and quality assurance must be entered into the electronic tracking system so the department can use that data to monitor compliance. The bill allows a grower-processor to use the same lab for harvest and final processing testing and authorizes corrective actions, civil penalties, or revocation or suspension of a lab’s approval for violations including fraudulent reporting. The bill adds a member with laboratory expertise to the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board.

Two amendments were added on the floor of the committee. Amendment A0007, introduced by Representative Torcic and moved by Representative Rapp with Representative Rossi seconding, incorporates language from a separate proposal (identified in the hearing as HB 28) to provide additional statutory authority for the Department of Health to oversee the practitioner registry for medical-marijuana certifying practitioners. Representative Torcic said the amendment “does not mandate that the department do anything. Rather, it gives the department clear statutory authority” and that the amendment was designed to provide time-limited and specified oversight so practitioners and the department know what is expected.

Amendment A00013 makes technical changes negotiated with industry and the Department of Health. The amendment requires that samples be de-identified if the department utilizes an approved lab for audit testing, shortens the timeline for notification of corrective actions from 30 days to 15 calendar days before implementation, directs the department to set pre-established criteria to determine whether a quality-assurance test is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and clarifies types of violations covered by the bill. Committee discussion described A00013 as negotiated language intended to address stakeholder concerns about anonymity, timing and criteria for corrective actions.

Several members, including Representative Venkat (who identified himself as a physician), voiced support for the amendments and for giving the Department of Health clearer authority to oversee laboratory testing and practitioner registry issues. Representative Torcic said his interest in HB 28, which he secured as A0007, followed reporting by Spotlight PA and an administrative case at the Department of Health; he said the goal of the amendment is patient protection rather than reducing the number of practitioners.

Representative Venkat moved consideration of House Bill 33; Representative Benham seconded the motion. Both amendments A0007 and A00013 were subsequently amended into the bill by the committee. After a roll call, the committee chair announced that House Bill 33 is reported affirmatively from the House Health Committee.

Votes at a glance

House Resolutions 8, 11 and 16 (recognizing Alopecia Areata Awareness Month, Lipedema Awareness Month, and Rheumatoid Awareness Day, respectively) were approved as a package and referred out of the committee.

House Bill 33 and the incorporated amendments will be forwarded for further House consideration.