Bill Text: FL S1134 | 2018 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Department of Health Responsibilities Related to the Medical Use of Marijuana
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-07 - Laid on Table, refer to HB 6049 [S1134 Detail]
Download: Florida-2018-S1134-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2018 CS for CS for CS for SB 1134 By the Committees on Rules; Appropriations; and Health Policy; and Senators Rouson, Bradley, and Young 595-04004-18 20181134c3 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to Department of Health 3 responsibilities related to the medical use of 4 marijuana; amending s. 381.986, F.S.; deleting an 5 obsolete date; revising a requirement that the 6 department license one applicant who is a member of a 7 certain class to exclude a requirement that the 8 applicant also be a member of the Black Farmers and 9 Agriculturalist Association-Florida Chapter; providing 10 an effective date. 11 12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 13 14 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (8) of section 15 381.986, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 16 381.986 Medical use of marijuana.— 17 (8) MEDICAL MARIJUANA TREATMENT CENTERS.— 18 (a) The department shall license medical marijuana 19 treatment centers to ensure reasonable statewide accessibility 20 and availability as necessary for qualified patients registered 21 in the medical marijuana use registry and who are issued a 22 physician certification under this section. 23 1. As soon as practicable, but no later than July 3, 2017, 24 the department shall license as a medical marijuana treatment 25 center any entity that holds an active, unrestricted license to 26 cultivate, process, transport, and dispense low-THC cannabis, 27 medical cannabis, and cannabis delivery devices, under former s. 28 381.986, Florida Statutes 2016, before July 1, 2017, and which 29 meets the requirements of this section. In addition to the 30 authority granted under this section, these entities are 31 authorized to dispense low-THC cannabis, medical cannabis, and 32 cannabis delivery devices ordered pursuant to former s. 381.986, 33 Florida Statutes 2016, which were entered into the compassionate 34 use registry before July 1, 2017, and are authorized to begin 35 dispensing marijuana under this section on July 3, 2017. The 36 department may grant variances from the representations made in 37 such an entity’s original application for approval under former 38 s. 381.986, Florida Statutes 2014, pursuant to paragraph (e). 39 2. The department shall license as medical marijuana 40 treatment centers 10 applicants that meet the requirements of 41 this section, under the following parameters: 42 a. As soon as practicable, but no later than August 1, 43 2017, the department shall license any applicant whose 44 application was reviewed, evaluated, and scored by the 45 department and which was denied a dispensing organization 46 license by the department under former s. 381.986, Florida 47 Statutes 2014; which had one or more administrative or judicial 48 challenges pending as of January 1, 2017, or had a final ranking 49 within one point of the highest final ranking in its region 50 under former s. 381.986, Florida Statutes 2014; which meets the 51 requirements of this section; and which provides documentation 52 to the department that it has the existing infrastructure and 53 technical and technological ability to begin cultivating 54 marijuana within 30 days after registration as a medical 55 marijuana treatment center. 56 b. As soon as practicable,but no later than October 3,572017,the department shall license one applicant that is a 58 recognized class member of Pigford v. Glickman, 185 F.R.D. 82 59 (D.D.C. 1999), or In Re Black Farmers Litig., 856 F. Supp. 2d 1 60 (D.D.C. 2011)andis a member of the Black Farmers and61Agriculturalists Association–Florida Chapter. An applicant 62 licensed under this sub-subparagraph is exempt from the 63 requirement of subparagraph (b)2requirements of subparagraphs64(b)1. and 2. 65 c. As soon as practicable, but no later than October 3, 66 2017, the department shall license applicants that meet the 67 requirements of this section in sufficient numbers to result in 68 10 total licenses issued under this subparagraph, while 69 accounting for the number of licenses issued under sub 70 subparagraphs a. and b. 71 3. For up to two of the licenses issued under subparagraph 72 2., the department shall give preference to applicants that 73 demonstrate in their applications that they own one or more 74 facilities that are, or were, used for the canning, 75 concentrating, or otherwise processing of citrus fruit or citrus 76 molasses and will use or convert the facility or facilities for 77 the processing of marijuana. 78 4. Within 6 months after the registration of 100,000 active 79 qualified patients in the medical marijuana use registry, the 80 department shall license four additional medical marijuana 81 treatment centers that meet the requirements of this section. 82 Thereafter, the department shall license four medical marijuana 83 treatment centers within 6 months after the registration of each 84 additional 100,000 active qualified patients in the medical 85 marijuana use registry that meet the requirements of this 86 section. 87 5. Dispensing facilities are subject to the following 88 requirements: 89 a. A medical marijuana treatment center may not establish 90 or operate more than a statewide maximum of 25 dispensing 91 facilities, unless the medical marijuana use registry reaches a 92 total of 100,000 active registered qualified patients. When the 93 medical marijuana use registry reaches 100,000 active registered 94 qualified patients, and then upon each further instance of the 95 total active registered qualified patients increasing by 96 100,000, the statewide maximum number of dispensing facilities 97 that each licensed medical marijuana treatment center may 98 establish and operate increases by five. 99 b. A medical marijuana treatment center may not establish 100 more than the maximum number of dispensing facilities allowed in 101 each of the Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and 102 Southeast Regions. The department shall determine a medical 103 marijuana treatment center’s maximum number of dispensing 104 facilities allowed in each region by calculating the percentage 105 of the total statewide population contained within that region 106 and multiplying that percentage by the medical marijuana 107 treatment center’s statewide maximum number of dispensing 108 facilities established under sub-subparagraph a., rounded to the 109 nearest whole number. The department shall ensure that such 110 rounding does not cause a medical marijuana treatment center’s 111 total number of statewide dispensing facilities to exceed its 112 statewide maximum. The department shall initially calculate the 113 maximum number of dispensing facilities allowed in each region 114 for each medical marijuana treatment center using county 115 population estimates from the Florida Estimates of Population 116 2016, as published by the Office of Economic and Demographic 117 Research, and shall perform recalculations following the 118 official release of county population data resulting from each 119 United States Decennial Census. For the purposes of this 120 subparagraph: 121 (I) The Northwest Region consists of Bay, Calhoun, 122 Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, 123 Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, 124 Walton, and Washington Counties. 125 (II) The Northeast Region consists of Alachua, Baker, 126 Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, 127 Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, 128 Suwannee, and Union Counties. 129 (III) The Central Region consists of Brevard, Citrus, 130 Hardee, Hernando, Indian River, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, 131 Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, St. Lucie, Sumter, and Volusia 132 Counties. 133 (IV) The Southwest Region consists of Charlotte, Collier, 134 DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, 135 Okeechobee, and Sarasota Counties. 136 (V) The Southeast Region consists of Broward, Miami-Dade, 137 Martin, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties. 138 c. If a medical marijuana treatment center establishes a 139 number of dispensing facilities within a region that is less 140 than the number allowed for that region under sub-subparagraph 141 b., the medical marijuana treatment center may sell one or more 142 of its unused dispensing facility slots to other licensed 143 medical marijuana treatment centers. For each dispensing 144 facility slot that a medical marijuana treatment center sells, 145 that medical marijuana treatment center’s statewide maximum 146 number of dispensing facilities, as determined under sub 147 subparagraph a., is reduced by one. The statewide maximum number 148 of dispensing facilities for a medical marijuana treatment 149 center that purchases an unused dispensing facility slot is 150 increased by one per slot purchased. Additionally, the sale of a 151 dispensing facility slot shall reduce the seller’s regional 152 maximum and increase the purchaser’s regional maximum number of 153 dispensing facilities, as determined in sub-subparagraph b., by 154 one for that region. For any slot purchased under this sub 155 subparagraph, the regional restriction applied to that slot’s 156 location under sub-subparagraph b. before the purchase shall 157 remain in effect following the purchase. A medical marijuana 158 treatment center that sells or purchases a dispensing facility 159 slot must notify the department within 3 days of sale. 160 d. This subparagraph shall expire on April 1, 2020. 161 162 If this subparagraph or its application to any person or 163 circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect 164 other provisions or applications of this act which can be given 165 effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this 166 end, the provisions of this subparagraph are severable. 167 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.