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‘Pot commission manager does not need agriculture experience’
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Posted on Jul 25 2019
Sen. Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian) clarified yesterday that the Commonwealth Cannabis Commission’s requirement for managing director was tweaked because the director merely carries out policies crafted by the commissioners.
Hofschneider, as chairman of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, insists that the tweaks on the requirements for the managing director of the Cannabis Commission were justified.
In the House version of Rep. John Paul Sablan’s (R-Saipan) House Bill 21-13, the cannabis commission’s managing director is required to have a bachelor’s degree or four years work experience in the agricultural or related industries.
H.B. 21-13 amends the law that created the cannabis commission and with it, the regulations on cannabis consumption and policies for regulating the industry. The legislation also designates a managing director as well as five commissioners representing all senatorial districts in the CNMI.
In the Senate version, the committee removed the possibility of substituting four years of work experience in the agricultural or related industries for a bachelor’s degree.
“We feel that management qualifications do not need to have that [experience] since [the] commission is tasked with developing the policy for the management to carry out,” Hofschneider said. “[The cannabis commission] can also commission experts to guide them if the need arises.”
The five-year work experience in professional, administrative, or management in government or private sectors for the managing director remained intact in the Senate version of the bill.
H.B. 21-13, HD1, SS1 heads back to the House for discussion and action. Sablan told Saipan Tribune in an interview last July 22, 2019, however, that some of the Senate changes were not a big deal and that they would decide whether to accept or reject the changes at the next House session.
If the House reject the Senate changes, the Legislature will go into a conference committee to reach an agreement on the bill.
