Tucked into the Florida House’s medical marijuana legislation is language that could help just one nursery that lost out the last time the state handed out licenses for its existing, limited cannabis program.
The bill (HB 1397) grants licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana to the next-highest-scoring nurseries from the state’s 2015 licensing process that have not yet been given a license. But it specifically excludes nurseries that were involved in an administrative challenge on March 31.
That applies to just one case, in southwest Florida, where Three Boys Farms came in second place and officially challenged the Department of Health’s decision to give the license instead to Alpha/Surterra.
On March 31, the case still hadn’t been decided by an administrative law judge. If Three Boys wins, they’ll get a license to grow and sell marijuana. If they don’t, they won’t, and the language passed Tuesday by the Florida House would block them, giving a license instead to the third-place grower, called SunBulb Company.
The sponsor of the House language, Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, did not return two calls this week from the Times/Herald and has not been available following the House’s floor sessions to answer questions from reporters.
A call earlier this week to SunBulb’s lobbyist, former state Rep. Robert Schenck, was not returned.
Asked about this issue by another House member Tuesday, Rodrigues said the March 31 language is needed to keep the state from interfering in administrative challenges.
“What we ought to do is allow that litigation to proceed to its natural conclusion,” he said. “If they win their appeal, they will receive a license.”
That’s true. Rodrigues’ legislation, and a similar bill (SB 406) expected to pass the Florida Senate later this week, give licenses to any growers who lost out in 2015 but win an administrative challenge.
In a letter to Rodrigues, Three Boys said the language “doesn’t seem fair at all” and “circumvents” their ability to challenge decisions made by state agencies.
Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, who sponsored the Senate bill said he wasn’t aware of the language in the House bill or how it might affect any particular would-be growers. His legislation doesn’t currently include the provision.
“I am not aware of it helping one particular entity or the other,” Bradley said. “I can’t speak to that. My intention is to get more licenses online and to have people who are ready to go.”
It is not yet clear whether the March 31 provision was part of a deal being struck behind the scenes between Bradley and Rodrigues.
But Bradley said he won’t include anything in his marijuana bills that came directly from lobbyists and without vetting by his office.
“I think you’ll find in all my dealings on the medical marijuana issue over the last few years that obviously it’s something people have a lot of interest in, but I make my own decisions on these things and any language that you see that’s got my name on it is language that is from my work with professional staff,” he said. “That’s very important to me that this be done in that manner.”
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