CARSON CITY — Sen. Rochelle Wynne, R‑Senate District 3, presented Senate Bill 168 to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, saying the measure aims to modernize parts of Nevada’s young cannabis regulatory framework and add due‑process guardrails to the cannabis compliance board’s administrative‑hold procedures.

“Administrative holds are not recalls,” Wynne told the committee, describing holds as a pause in the seed‑to‑sale system while the board investigates whether a product poses a risk. She said holds can tie up tens of thousands to millions of dollars of product and sometimes last months, causing product to expire before any formal determination is reached.

The bill would require the Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) to provide more information about the reason for a hold, set a timeline for board consideration of holds (with an initial timeline and a mechanism to extend), and create clearer steps licensees may use to seek release of held product. SB168 also contains updates to packaging and labeling and increases packaging sizes to align with prior legislative changes.

Industry witnesses and trade groups supported the bill. Lake Martin of the Nevada Cannabis Association said administrative holds are placed through the state's Metrc tracking software and freeze affected products across the distribution network; operators then must remove products from the shelf, customer baskets and pickups. Martin said holds can remain in place for many months and that licensees have reported losses “that extend for many months” and, in extreme cases, licensees “have lost $100,000” or more. A representative for Green Thumb Industries said the company had a hold in which more than $200,000 of product was frozen for roughly nine months and that the operator ultimately chose to destroy product to free shelf space.

CCB Executive Director James Humm and chief of health and safety Cara Cronkite testified in neutral. Cronkite said the agency places holds only where there is a potential risk to public health or safety and noted the agency’s inability to test for every inert pesticide ingredient; she recommended the committee use the phrase “potential risk to public health” rather than the draft bill’s language that had included “substantial hazard to public health.” Director Goicoechea of the Nevada Department of Agriculture joined in neutral testimony, explaining that pesticide inert ingredients present testing challenges because many are trade‑secret formulations and that federal regulation does not cover cannabis.

Sen. Wynne said part of SB168’s purpose is to bring more predictability to businesses while retaining the CCB’s investigatory authority. The bill would require the CCB to bring the hold to the board within an initial timeline (the sponsor discussed a 30‑day period in committee testimony) and allow the board to extend if necessary. The bill text also includes labeling and packaging clarifications in sections cited by sponsors and industry representatives as intended to avoid duplicative requirements.

Committee members asked about the standard that triggers a hold — for example, whether the standard should be “substantial hazard” or a lower threshold such as “potential risk to public health” or “significant.” Director Goicoechea and Cronkite recommended language used in other public health contexts (e.g., “potential risk to public health”) and cautioned about the Department of Agriculture’s limits in pesticide testing for cannabis. Several members and witnesses said the CCB had issued holds without immediate board review, and supporters said SB168 creates clearer timelines and a board‑level backstop for licensees.

Public testimony included multiple industry groups in support, the CCB leadership in neutral, and the Department of Agriculture in neutral. No opposition testimony was recorded at the hearing. The committee closed the SB168 hearing after iterative Q&A and neutral testimony.

If enacted, supporters say the bill would reduce indefinite holds that cause product loss while preserving the board’s authority to act on public‑health concerns.