Bill would require fingerprinting for Marijuana industry
As Missouri's recreational marijuana industry gets rolling, lawmakers are seeking to ensure the program complies with federal regulations.
House Bill 766, sponsored by Joplin Republican Rep. Lane Roberts, would instruct the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to require employees, contractors, owners and volunteers at marijuana facilities to submit fingerprints to the Missouri Highway Patrol. The prints would be used for state and federal criminal background checks and could be included in a facility's or employee's application.
Roberts said the bill was an effort to bring the state and its adult-use marijuana industry in line with Amendment 3, the ballot measure passed in November that allowed for the sale and use of marijuana products by adults ages 21 and up.
"This bill essentially keeps us in compliance with the FBI's requirements and complies with the provisions of Amendment 3, and that's in a nutshell what its purpose is," Roberts told his colleagues on the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee during a hearing Thursday morning. Roberts formerly served as a police chief and Department of Public Safety (DPS) director.
Ben Terrell, legislative director for DHSS, testified in support of the bill. He said the department had brought the bill to the Legislature, seeking to bring the new program in line with regulations for the state's medical marijuana sites in collaboration with DPS.
"We think that these provisions are important to protecting public safety and public health at the state with the product that we regulate," Terrell said. "The Constitution under medical marijuana and under recreational marijuana requires us to do background checks. In order to do those background checks, we have to have statutory authority that the FBI recognizes, and that is why we are putting the statutory language forward. We've been working in close partnership with DPS to make sure we get it right so that we can actually do those background checks with them."
Terrell said the amendment required background checks, but constitutional restraints required them to be authorized via a statutory change.
Rep. Robert Sauls inquired about a portion of the bill covering contractors, asking whether it applied to any contractors who work with these facilities, including internet providers or trash companies.
"The problem I see there is that I think that's broad enough and not really tailored," he said. "Maybe that needs to be tightened up because I think what we're trying to do here as far as make sure that certain people have to be fingerprinted. I think that's certainly not the intent to require it for everyone."
Terrell said the state enforced the same standards for its medical marijuana program, but he was unaware of any concerns on that portion of the existing requirement.
Tom Robbins with MoCannTrade, a cannabis trade association, also testified in favor of the bill, telling lawmakers that falling in line with Amendment 3's requirements would ensure protection for the industry and consumers from the federal government's own moratorium on recreational use. Lt. Collin Stosberg, legislative liaison for the Highway Patrol, also voiced the patrol's support for the bill.
Not everyone was receptive to the proposal.
Kevin Hurdle, an individual not testifying on behalf of any group, said the bill was a legislative backlash to the voters who passed Amendment 3 by a Republican-majority legislature.
"What you're trying to do is punish the people who voted for something," he said. "This is ridiculous -- why do you need to fingerprint everybody and send it to the Highway Patrol and the FBI? Nobody's committed a crime here. This is legal now. So they're trying to backdoor this thing to where maybe one day if they can make marijuana illegal again, they got everyone's fingerprints who were involved."
Rep. Chad Perkins, a Bowling Green Republican, pointed out that similar fingerprint and background check requirements exist for police officers, school teachers and alcohol vendors.
The committee did not take action on the bill Thursday.
Recreational sales began earlier this month, doubling medical marijuana sales for the same period over its first weekend.
Voters in both Jefferson City and Cole County will consider adding a 3 percent sales tax to the state's 6 percent tax rate in the April 4 election.
