Bill Text: FL S1134 | 2018 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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
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 SB 1134 By the Committee on Health Policy; and Senators Rouson, Bradley, and Young 588-02150A-18 20181134c1 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.; requiring the 5 department to adopt rules to allow qualified patients 6 to change qualified physicians; deleting an obsolete 7 date; revising a requirement that the department 8 license one applicant who is a member of a certain 9 class to exclude a requirement that the applicant also 10 be a member of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalist 11 Association-Florida Chapter; providing an effective 12 date. 13 14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15 16 Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (4) and paragraph 17 (a) of subsection (8) of section 381.986, Florida Statutes, are 18 amended to read: 19 381.986 Medical use of marijuana.— 20 (4) PHYSICIAN CERTIFICATION.— 21 (h) The department, the Board of Medicine, and the Board of 22 Osteopathic Medicine may adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) 23 and 120.54 to implement this subsection. Rules adopted pursuant 24 to this subsection must include a process by which a qualified 25 patient may change qualified physicians while retaining an 26 active registration on the medical marijuana use registry. This 27 process must include safeguards to ensure that any new physician 28 certification issued to the patient after he or she changes 29 physicians does not combine with any existing patient 30 certification to allow the patient to possess more than the 70 31 day supply limits. 32 (8) MEDICAL MARIJUANA TREATMENT CENTERS.— 33 (a) The department shall license medical marijuana 34 treatment centers to ensure reasonable statewide accessibility 35 and availability as necessary for qualified patients registered 36 in the medical marijuana use registry and who are issued a 37 physician certification under this section. 38 1. As soon as practicable, but no later than July 3, 2017, 39 the department shall license as a medical marijuana treatment 40 center any entity that holds an active, unrestricted license to 41 cultivate, process, transport, and dispense low-THC cannabis, 42 medical cannabis, and cannabis delivery devices, under former s. 43 381.986, Florida Statutes 2016, before July 1, 2017, and which 44 meets the requirements of this section. In addition to the 45 authority granted under this section, these entities are 46 authorized to dispense low-THC cannabis, medical cannabis, and 47 cannabis delivery devices ordered pursuant to former s. 381.986, 48 Florida Statutes 2016, which were entered into the compassionate 49 use registry before July 1, 2017, and are authorized to begin 50 dispensing marijuana under this section on July 3, 2017. The 51 department may grant variances from the representations made in 52 such an entity’s original application for approval under former 53 s. 381.986, Florida Statutes 2014, pursuant to paragraph (e). 54 2. The department shall license as medical marijuana 55 treatment centers 10 applicants that meet the requirements of 56 this section, under the following parameters: 57 a. As soon as practicable, but no later than August 1, 58 2017, the department shall license any applicant whose 59 application was reviewed, evaluated, and scored by the 60 department and which was denied a dispensing organization 61 license by the department under former s. 381.986, Florida 62 Statutes 2014; which had one or more administrative or judicial 63 challenges pending as of January 1, 2017, or had a final ranking 64 within one point of the highest final ranking in its region 65 under former s. 381.986, Florida Statutes 2014; which meets the 66 requirements of this section; and which provides documentation 67 to the department that it has the existing infrastructure and 68 technical and technological ability to begin cultivating 69 marijuana within 30 days after registration as a medical 70 marijuana treatment center. 71 b. As soon as practicable,but no later than October 3,722017,the department shall license one applicant that is a 73 recognized class member of Pigford v. Glickman, 185 F.R.D. 82 74 (D.D.C. 1999), or In Re Black Farmers Litig., 856 F. Supp. 2d 1 75 (D.D.C. 2011)andis a member of the Black Farmers and76Agriculturalists Association–Florida Chapter. An applicant 77 licensed under this sub-subparagraph is exempt from the 78 requirement of subparagraph (b)2requirements of subparagraphs79(b)1. and 2. 80 c. As soon as practicable, but no later than October 3, 81 2017, the department shall license applicants that meet the 82 requirements of this section in sufficient numbers to result in 83 10 total licenses issued under this subparagraph, while 84 accounting for the number of licenses issued under sub 85 subparagraphs a. and b. 86 3. For up to two of the licenses issued under subparagraph 87 2., the department shall give preference to applicants that 88 demonstrate in their applications that they own one or more 89 facilities that are, or were, used for the canning, 90 concentrating, or otherwise processing of citrus fruit or citrus 91 molasses and will use or convert the facility or facilities for 92 the processing of marijuana. 93 4. Within 6 months after the registration of 100,000 active 94 qualified patients in the medical marijuana use registry, the 95 department shall license four additional medical marijuana 96 treatment centers that meet the requirements of this section. 97 Thereafter, the department shall license four medical marijuana 98 treatment centers within 6 months after the registration of each 99 additional 100,000 active qualified patients in the medical 100 marijuana use registry that meet the requirements of this 101 section. 102 5. Dispensing facilities are subject to the following 103 requirements: 104 a. A medical marijuana treatment center may not establish 105 or operate more than a statewide maximum of 25 dispensing 106 facilities, unless the medical marijuana use registry reaches a 107 total of 100,000 active registered qualified patients. When the 108 medical marijuana use registry reaches 100,000 active registered 109 qualified patients, and then upon each further instance of the 110 total active registered qualified patients increasing by 111 100,000, the statewide maximum number of dispensing facilities 112 that each licensed medical marijuana treatment center may 113 establish and operate increases by five. 114 b. A medical marijuana treatment center may not establish 115 more than the maximum number of dispensing facilities allowed in 116 each of the Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and 117 Southeast Regions. The department shall determine a medical 118 marijuana treatment center’s maximum number of dispensing 119 facilities allowed in each region by calculating the percentage 120 of the total statewide population contained within that region 121 and multiplying that percentage by the medical marijuana 122 treatment center’s statewide maximum number of dispensing 123 facilities established under sub-subparagraph a., rounded to the 124 nearest whole number. The department shall ensure that such 125 rounding does not cause a medical marijuana treatment center’s 126 total number of statewide dispensing facilities to exceed its 127 statewide maximum. The department shall initially calculate the 128 maximum number of dispensing facilities allowed in each region 129 for each medical marijuana treatment center using county 130 population estimates from the Florida Estimates of Population 131 2016, as published by the Office of Economic and Demographic 132 Research, and shall perform recalculations following the 133 official release of county population data resulting from each 134 United States Decennial Census. For the purposes of this 135 subparagraph: 136 (I) The Northwest Region consists of Bay, Calhoun, 137 Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, 138 Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, 139 Walton, and Washington Counties. 140 (II) The Northeast Region consists of Alachua, Baker, 141 Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, 142 Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, 143 Suwannee, and Union Counties. 144 (III) The Central Region consists of Brevard, Citrus, 145 Hardee, Hernando, Indian River, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, 146 Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, St. Lucie, Sumter, and Volusia 147 Counties. 148 (IV) The Southwest Region consists of Charlotte, Collier, 149 DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, 150 Okeechobee, and Sarasota Counties. 151 (V) The Southeast Region consists of Broward, Miami-Dade, 152 Martin, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties. 153 c. If a medical marijuana treatment center establishes a 154 number of dispensing facilities within a region that is less 155 than the number allowed for that region under sub-subparagraph 156 b., the medical marijuana treatment center may sell one or more 157 of its unused dispensing facility slots to other licensed 158 medical marijuana treatment centers. For each dispensing 159 facility slot that a medical marijuana treatment center sells, 160 that medical marijuana treatment center’s statewide maximum 161 number of dispensing facilities, as determined under sub 162 subparagraph a., is reduced by one. The statewide maximum number 163 of dispensing facilities for a medical marijuana treatment 164 center that purchases an unused dispensing facility slot is 165 increased by one per slot purchased. Additionally, the sale of a 166 dispensing facility slot shall reduce the seller’s regional 167 maximum and increase the purchaser’s regional maximum number of 168 dispensing facilities, as determined in sub-subparagraph b., by 169 one for that region. For any slot purchased under this sub 170 subparagraph, the regional restriction applied to that slot’s 171 location under sub-subparagraph b. before the purchase shall 172 remain in effect following the purchase. A medical marijuana 173 treatment center that sells or purchases a dispensing facility 174 slot must notify the department within 3 days of sale. 175 d. This subparagraph shall expire on April 1, 2020. 176 177 If this subparagraph or its application to any person or 178 circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect 179 other provisions or applications of this act which can be given 180 effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this 181 end, the provisions of this subparagraph are severable. 182 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.