HB 273-EXTEND: MARIJUANA CONTROL BOARD
3:42:00 PM
CHAIR KITO announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 273, "An Act extending the termination date of
the Marijuana Control Board; and providing for an effective
date."
3:42:18 PM
CRYSTAL KOENEMAN, Staff, Representative Sam Kito, Alaska State
Legislature, presented HB 273 on behalf of Representative Kito,
prime sponsor. She remarked that the board was unavailable as
they were in a board meeting. Representative Knopp had posed a
question regarding the public safety member of the board. She
informed that Travis Welch from Barrow, Alaska, had been newly
appointed to the board following the resignation of a member.
3:44:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked if there were pro or con
comments regarding the board.
MS. KOENEMAN noted that Brandon Emmett from industry had
testified in the previous meeting. She underlined that she had
not had any negative feedback regarding the board extension.
REPRESENTATIVE KNOPP spoke to the creation of the board in 2014,
when he was assembly member. He remarked that at the time he
had questioned why anyone would want to get involved in the
industry given the way in which it was being regulated and
stated that he was very impressed by how the board had come
together. He expressed his support for the board.
3:46:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL queried and whether there was a structured
plan to deal with prioritizing enforcement due to limited
resources. He also asked about the personal views of the board
chair regarding the regulation of marijuana.
MS. KOENEMAN spoke to prioritization of enforcement and said she
would present the members with more detailed information later.
She addressed the question regarding the new member and
explained that the new member still needed to be confirmed by
the legislature.
3:48:57 PM
CHAIR KITO opened public testimony on HB 273. After
ascertaining that no one wished to testify, he closed public
testimony.
3:49:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL moved to report HB 273 out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.
There being no objection, HB 273 was reported from the House
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.