SB 11: Restrict Financial Conflicts of Interest in Medical Cannabis Referrals

Last updated on 2024-01-15

In further Republican hypocrisy, while the Republican Legislative leadership tries to undo the constitutional prohibition on legislators having financial interests in contracts the Legislature authorizes, some Republican legislators are proposing legislation to restrict conflicts of interest in the medical marijuana field.

Senate Bill 11, filed by Senator Erin Tobin (R-21/Winner), would “prohibit a practitioner from referring a patient to a medical cannabis clinic with which the practitioner or an immediate family member has a financial relationship”:

For purposes of this section, a “financial relationship” means an ownership or investment interest in the medical cannabis clinic, or a compensation arrangement between the practitioner or the practitioner’s immediate family member and the clinic.

An ownership or investment interest may be through equity, debt, or other means and includes an interest in an entity that holds an ownership or investment interest in the medical cannabis clinic [2024 SB 11, excerpt, filed 2023.12.22].

Funny: SB 11 co-sponsor Rep. Kevin Jensen (R-16/Canton) had a financial relationship with the business his wife owns when that business received six state contracts, and he never felt that conflict of interest disqualified him from continuing to serve in the Legislature, despite an explicit Constitutional prohibition. Will Representative Jensen attempt to add to the four exception clauses in SB 11 a fifth that says the financial-relationship ban doesn’t apply if the clinic is owned or operated by or employs a legislator?

Senator Tobin has gotten one Democrat from neighboring District 26, Representative Eric Emery (D-26A/Rosebud), to join her four Republican co-sponsors. She has also secured the co-sponsorship of her majority leader Senator Casey Crabtree (R-8/Madison).

SB 11 would make violations of this ban on practitioners’ referring medical cannabis patients to clinics where the practitioners make money a Class 2 misdemeanor, the lowest crime category, with a maximum of 30 days in county lock-up and a $500 fine.