STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1502
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: S.B. No. 1429
S.D. 2
H.D. 2
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1429, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL CANNABIS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Authorize the Department of Health to impose penalties and take enforcement actions for violations of the medical cannabis laws;
(2) Retroactively repeal the prohibition against primary caregivers cultivating medical cannabis for their qualifying patients;
(3) Authorize primary caregivers to cultivate cannabis in an amount not to exceed an adequate supply for the qualifying patient;
(4) Extend until July 1, 2027, the effective date of certain interim rules adopted by the Department of Health; and
(5) Extend until June 30, 2029, the sunset date for the exemption from civil service of personnel hired by, or contracts entered into by, the Department of Health.
Your Committee finds that medical cannabis primary caregivers are a vital resource for qualifying patients who require cannabis for medical use. Many qualifying patients are too ill to grow their own medical cannabis and having a primary caregiver who is capable of cultivating medical cannabis on behalf of the patient, as well as assisting the patient in purchasing medical cannabis from medical cannabis dispensaries can ensure that qualifying patients can continue to maintain access to medical cannabis. However, the authority for a primary caregiver to cultivate medical cannabis for a patient terminated on January 1, 2025. This measure, in part, repeals that prohibition to allow primary caregivers to cultivate medical cannabis for qualifying patients once again.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the retroactive effective date for the prohibition against primary caregivers cultivating medical cannabis for their qualifying patients to January 1, 2025;
(2) Changing the effective date for the extension of certain interim rules and the extension of the sunset date for civil service exemptions to June 28, 2025; and
(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1429, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1429, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,
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____________________________ SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair |
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