Medical Cannabis, Police Reform Bills Headed for Debate

Proposals to legalize medical cannabis and improve police training advanced out of committee, while bills easing fireworks regulation and allowing carbon sequestration got first round approval Tuesday in the Nebraska Legislature.

Both the medical cannabis and police training bills were advanced by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The cannabis bill, sponsored by Sen. Anna Wishart, originally said people could get the drug for any illness that a health care practitioner determined it could relieve. However, committee members adopted an amendment that lists 17 specific diagnoses to qualify, ranging from epilepsy and cancer to terminal illness, severe nausea and severe or chronic pain.

Sen. Steve Lathrop, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said the proposal is a thoughtful approach to regulating marijuana.

“It’s for prescribed conditions. It’s not in a form that people can smoke or use recreationally. And I think that’s a really thoughtful way to approach this. The real challenge is if we don’t do something about it in the Legislature with Sen. Wishart’s bill, then we run the risk of having a situation like we have up in South Dakota where they just put recreational and medical marijuana all in one petition initiative and it all passes and we find ourselves in a position where we are unable to regulate it,” Lathrop said.

The committee split 5-2 on advancing the bill. Sens. Terrell McKinney, Adam Morfeld, Patty Pansing Brooks and Wendy DeBoer joined Lathrop in supporting it. Sens. Suzanne Geist and Julie Slama were opposed, and Sen. Tom Brandt passed. The bill now goes to the full Legislature for debate, and with Gov. Pete Ricketts having stressed his strong opposition, it’s likely to provoke a big battle among senators.

The Judiciary Committee also advanced a police reform bill that grew out of listening sessions on the criminal justice system that senators held last June in the wake of protests following the death of George Floyd.

The proposal bans the use of chokeholds except in situations where deadly force is authorized. It makes law enforcement agencies adopt policies requiring officers to intervene if they think a fellow officer is using excessive force, and it creates a public listing of officers who have given up their licenses or been convicted of certain crimes.

Lathrop, who introduced the bill, described what he hopes to accomplish.

“We are professionalizing the law enforcement agencies. Similarly, we are professionalizing individual law enforcement officers, requiring annual training which is more extensive than in the past,” he said.

The Judiciary Committee voted 7-0 to advance the bill.

In the full Legislature Tuesday, senators debated a proposal by Sen. Slama to loosen restrictions on what kind of fireworks can be purchased in Nebraska. Currently, the state is more restrictive than neighboring states including Missouri and South Dakota, which follow looser federal standards on what’s allowed. Slama said the restrictions, hurt the economy.

“Fireworks sales in Missouri topped $51 million in 2019, while Nebraska fireworks sales were at near $6.6 million in the same year. Thousands of Nebraskans are willing to travel out of state to get access to fireworks that they cannot purchase at home. The desire for currently illegal fireworks, like bottle rockets, directly impedes our economy and hurts our local fireworks stands,” Slama said.

Sen. Carol Blood expressed concern about the effects on people, like military veterans, who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. And Sen. Jen Day noted opposition from the insurance industry.

“The National Fire Protection Association an estimated 19,500 reported fires were started by fireworks causing five deaths, 46 injuries, and $105 million in direct property damage, and I see obviously this bill as only exacerbating that problem,” Day said.

Slama said there was no indication that states like Missouri that follow the looser federal standards have any more injuries from fireworks, and said a study by the Platte Institute illustrated her point.

“Missouri only had only one firework-related injury for every 14,609 residents, while Nebraska had one injury for every 11,564 residents. So that means that Nebraska actually has a higher incidence rate of injuries related to fireworks than Missouri,” she said.

Senators voted 40-3 to give Slama’s bill first round approval.

They also advanced a proposal by Sen. Mike Flood that would set up the legal and regulatory framework for industries to store carbon dioxide in underground reservoirs, rather than emitting it into the atmosphere. Flood said that would have both economic and environmental benefits.

“Reducing carbon emissions from industries like electricity generation, ethanol production and manufacturing by capturing the carbon dioxide they produce and preventing its release into the atmosphere has the dual impact of increasing market share for low carbon products, but also addressing the climate issue in a proactive, quantifiable way,” Flood said.

Sen. Eliot Bostar said he was concerned about possible unintended consequences, mentioning problems Oklahoma has had with earthquakes resulting from reinjecting waste from oil drilling underground. Flood promised to work with him on a possible amendment before the next round of debate. Senators then voted 41-0 first round approval of the bill.