OMMA seeks flat budget while outlining quality-assurance lab, IT upgrade and staffing cuts

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority told the Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee that its fiscal 2026 budget request is flat and aimed at stabilizing the regulatory system while implementing a quality‑assurance laboratory and new licensing software.

"We eliminated 29 positions that were no longer serving the needs of the agency and of the state," Director Barry Deering said, describing a July 2024 reduction in force meant to focus OMMA on its core regulatory mandate.

Deering told senators the agency is "operationalizing all that we built and seeing the fruits of our labors from the previous three years," and emphasized steps intended to improve public safety and regulatory oversight. He said OMMA will continue to track regulated products in the state's seed‑to‑sale system and is developing a single licensing and inspection system to combine licensing, inspections, compliance and investigations.

Nut graf: The agency is positioning the QA reference lab and new IT systems as tools to improve consumer safety and help law enforcement identify unregulated or potentially dangerous products. Those steps come as OMMA trims staff and pursues automation while keeping its overall budget request flat.

What OMMA described

Quality‑assurance lab: Deering said the reference lab will test products for heavy metals (including arsenic in outdoor‑grown plants), pesticides, potency (THC levels), and microbial contaminants such as yeast and mold. "We plan to do, test a hundred, I believe, 100, samples per month, at our QA lab minimum," Deering said. He added the lab will help law enforcement distinguish regulated marijuana from hemp and identify psychoactive or otherwise unregulated cannabinoid products that are appearing outside dispensaries.

Seed‑to‑sale and IT: Deering said every product in the regulated market is tracked in OMMA's seed‑to‑sale system from cultivation to sale, and testing results will be linked to that trace. He described a two‑year procurement process to replace legacy licensing software with a single system that will also capture inspection and compliance data and reduce staff hours required for routine processing.

Staffing changes and automation: The director said the July 2024 reduction removed positions that "were no longer needed" as OMES and other shared services can provide some functions. He described a bot already processing employee credentials to reduce manual review. OMMA said positions for the QA lab were approved and budgeted in the prior year and will not require an additional request in FY‑26.

Costs and unanswered questions

OMMA identified ongoing operational costs for the QA lab but did not provide a completed figure in the hearing record; Chief Financial Officer Brian Walters introduced himself to the committee and began to cite estimates but a full operational cost figure was not recorded in the transcript. Deering declined to increase the agency's overall request for FY‑26.

Committee questions and follow up

Senators pressed OMMA on the 29 position eliminations, lab operations, security and banking for cannabis businesses, and on whether QA‑lab staffing and other costs were already funded. Deering confirmed QA‑lab positions had been budgeted previously and said he expects limited hiring in patient services tied to the lab and to a new medical services department.

Where this goes next

The subcommittee did not take any formal votes during the OMMA presentation. Deering said he would continue to work with Senator Gillespie on follow‑up items related to the budget and implementation details.

Ending: The agency presented its FY‑26 request as a flat budget and left time for follow‑up questions; senators signaled interest in details about QA‑lab costs and the new licensing system.