Sign Nevada Banking Claim Fast

Industry sign banking nevada claim fast

good morning everyone and welcome to the senate committee on commerce and labor for the 81st legislative session before we begin please be sure to mute your microphone when you're not speaking to minimize the background noise madam secretary please call the role senator hardy here senator lange are you here senator neil here senator pickard here senator scheible here senator settlemyer chair spearman here you let the record show that we have all of our members present and accounted for so welcome to our audience joining us remotely and anyone else listening over the internet today we will have a hearing on senate bill 122. i would like to take a moment to go over some basic housekeeping items as you know the legislative building is currently closed as a public safety measure to reduce the spread and infection of infection rate of covet 19 to the public and so all committee meetings will be held virtually meaning committee members staff and everyone else will participate either through 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application and finally all exhibits received prior to the meeting will be available on nellis online so now i will open the hearing on senate bill 122. sb 122 requires certain health and safety training for employees of cannabis establishments senator brooks you and your team may proceed when you're ready thank you good morning chair spearman vice chair uh neil and members of the commerce and labor committee my name is chris brooks from senate district three down in clark county and this morning i'm here to present senate bill 122. in a bill 122 will require a cannabis business to have to have employees complete a 10-hour osha course and supervisors complete a 30-hour osha course within one year of employment to ensure that employees and supervisors are familiar with common job-related safety and health standards in nevada cannabis industry includes retail workers who handle cannabis products workers who work in and around heavy machinery and the manufacturing and cultivation of cannabis products and workers in testing laboratories that are exposed to cannabis by-products and chemicals this will bring worker protections for those workers up to date with other industries in nevada that is why i've introduced this bill if it pleases the committee i would like to hand it off to jessica varado from proudly and verado public affairs to explain the importance of this bill and also a walk through some of its provisions good morning chair and members of the committee for the record my name is jessica ferrato with crowley and frato public affairs here today on behalf of the united food and commercial workers to help present sb 122. as senator brooks mentioned sb 122 will require osha 10 and osha 30 training for employees of the cannabis industry the goal of the bill is to familiarize employees and supervisors with common job related safety and health standards hazards within the industry include heat exposure pesticide exposure field sanitation issues carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide exposure handling of equipment that rotates cuts and pinches and exposure to flammable chemicals providing this training will increase workforce safety for the industry as a whole i'll now take a minute to walk you through the bill existing law requires certain employees performing work on construction sites certain sites related to the entertainment industry and sites where exhibitions conventions and trade shows occur to complete osha 10 and 30 training this bill enacts similar requirements for employees of the cannabis establishments of cannabis establishments section two through 7 of the bill provide necessary definitions section 8 allows the division of industrial relations to adopt any necessary regulations section 9 requires the division to approve osha 10 and osha 30 courses section 10 requires osha trainers to identify their approved card at the location of the training section 11 requires an employee to complete an osha 10 class and a supervisory employee to complete osha 30 classes within one year of employment in addition it specifies the costs of the training will be paid by the employer section 12 states that employees do not complete who do not complete the course within one year shall be suspended or terminated by their employer section 13 requires the division to report any violation of a cannabis establishment that does not follow section 12 of the bill to the executive director of the cannabis compliance board and lastly section 15 requires a suspension of a licensee for violations of section 12. this bill will provide a standard of safety to the cannabis industry and bring worker safety up to date with other industries in the state thank you for your time and i'm here to help answer any questions thank you ms ferrano um senator brooks do you have anyone else that you would like to testify before we go into um opposition uh chair i do not but i i do believe that on the phone line registered in the neutral position is uh osha to answer a question if necessary and a cannabis compliance board as well and senator senator chair spearman there will be some folks on the line to testify um in support so i think we have support testimony on the phone and then i know that osha is with us in the zoom here only to answer questions from the committee if needed okay thank you and for those who are on the line and wanting to testify uh please remember that ditto is a good response especially if you have a number of people wanting to testify during that segment okay so thank you uh committee members any questions senator hardy thank you madam chair i think you're muted senator hardy i am i'm there to go okay can hear you now yeah what workman comp injuries have we had uh so far in the industry that's been around for a while now so in other words what specific things are we looking for in our 10 and our 30 osha training uh senator hardy this does for brooks a record i do not have the information on what claims have been made to date in this industry i don't know if uh uh um senator hardy through you chair um there are a variety of go to it okay senator hardy um thanks for the question there are a variety of exposures that are that are being encountered in the industry i can provide some anecdotal sortie stories from workers in terms of what they're exposed to i will just highlight you know that there's there's a variety of things that are covered under osha osha 10 and osha 30 specifically basic workplace safety things like fire prevention exposure to chemicals floor safety hazards all these types of issues as well as protection of your muscle cell skeletal disorders from rotating and items like that so if there are day-to-day work exposures not just in the retail cultivation industries but also in manufacturing that workers are exposed to on a daily basis i can find out information to you in terms of of those types of claims though i i appreciate it so i i'm focused on the retail part of that uh obviously but then you mentioned the carbon dioxide exposure so i'm i'm wondering i guess i'm a babe in the woods and not sure how what chemicals are used and what they are so i guess maybe i'm should i take an ocean 10 or an osha 30 in order to know uh what the things are and i don't know how big the industry is so are we talking about poor people that have been workman's comp in the whole industry or you know what is our how big a problem has it been in the last year or two years and you know what is it that we're seeing as far as problems in the industry i guess i'm coming at it from a medical standpoint sure thanks senator hardy a couple of things that you sort of had through that question as far as just referencing carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide carbon dioxide um results from air enrichment procedures that are used during um dry ice or tanks of compressed carbon dioxide frequently to accelerate the improvement of plant growth so that's the exposure there that's happening in the industry um and and and from my perspective and also from the workers perspective this is a relatively new industry um that has a lot of exposure into a lot of the items i previously named with pesticides and others and so i think this is providing a foundation for workers and supervisors in the state to have just a baseline safety requirement that is very common in in parallel industries right we see it in construction we see it entertainment stage workers and others and as far as which course to take osha 10 will be for four employees osha 30 obviously for the supervisors and i can provide a follow-up list for you in terms of the retail establishments to talk about all of the items that are um that the retail industry is exposed to which are very typical to sort of workplace exposures and and i have a list of it and can provide that to you including things like bloodborne pathogens especially during covet as you can imagine we have people coming in and out of a retail establishment the workers need to know how to properly protect themselves as as well as their customers just things like basically electrical use cords and others material handling this industry is a relatively secure industry as well so fire protection especially with with security operations how that works these are all sort of base level things that would be covered in an osha 10 course and and would provide sort of this baseline education to to members of the industry so retail for instance uh you know if if i go to macy's or some retail institution or somebody goes to a liquor store or somebody goes to a uh 7-eleven or a mini-mart of some kind do those people have to have osha training as well at osha 10 training senator hardy i can't speak to those industries and the requirements they have in place i'm not familiar but i think that from our perspective this industry in particular has um movement of product in and out of the industry as well as um being very very vertically integrated companies so there are employees that are moving between retail manufacturing cultivation within one company and so they're exposed to things especially um chemicals and other processing products as well as as i mentioned like these basic workplace safety items so i can't speak to other industries but i can provide you a list of what specifically these retail employees are exposed to well i appreciate that vertical uh integration that you're talking about so thank you appreciate it thank you madam chair sure thank you and i believe i saw senator pickert's hand and then senator hardy and then senator settlement thank you ma'am sure i because i don't know if the dispensary association is going to come up in opposition because they um propose some amendments um but i think you just answered one of my questions which is my understanding is this bill is going to institute the requirement across all of the different segments of the industry from manufacturing to distribution to the to the dispensaries themselves it's my understanding of the ocean 10 of course i went through the construction which is a specific subset but the general industry osha 10 is that these are basic exposures to any industry not industry specific and as i understand it these are going to be this requirement is for the general industry are there specific industry um as as miss verrado just mentioned are there specific industry exposures and risks that are going to be added to these requirements uh in other words are we going to ultimately develop a industry specific because it sounds like many of the the risks that were just described are industry specific and may not be covered by the osha 10 general industry how do we reconcile that thank you senator pickard um yes for the record just to be clear on this item it is with the intention of the bill to provide the general osha training courses um not a cannabis specific one um and so this is really sort of a first step to move in a direction to provide sort of a level playing field and basic foundation i think that as it pertains to the retail establishments a lot of these items are our basic workplace safety things that we just want to make sure those workers are provided it's not the intention to provide something specific to the cannabis industry but i know that many employers will provide examples on work sites about the the specific cann bis um risks and hazards and so we we will depend on um the industry folks as well as as as industry supervisors to make sure that their employees are properly trained with examples from the industry but the intention of this bill is to provide that general osha training and to just start with some level of protection for workers and some level of standard across the industry right i appreciate that i'm sure if i can follow up uh yeah just before you do that i think uh that's uh you asked that question with some specificity so if osha is on the line perhaps they may uh be able to elaborate that's actually where i was going thank you good morning madam chair victoria gavion for the record i'm the administrator at the division of industrial relations so in answer to that question um as was stated by ms ferrato yes that general industry training is general not specific to the cannabis industry the cannabis industry would continue to be responsible for providing specific training on the specific hazards that employees are experiencing as well as providing any training and ppe that may be necessary right and i appreciate that my follow-up then is is uh to you if i may um and that is uh if we're not uh and it's been a couple of years since i've taken the osha training um although i did go through both the 10 and the 30. my understanding of the requirements is that the osha training requires specific content and uh we're not really allowed we can mention other uh exposures other issues but the the curriculum is set and the tests only cover what's in that curriculum is that correct um thank you for the question victoria caryon for the record so the answer is yes there are specific topics that are required so the mandatory topics for the osha 10 class are an introduction to osha walking and working services including fall protection exit routes emergency action plans electrical personal protective equipment and hazard communication and then there's electives that are for the remaining two hours which include things like hazardous materials materials handling introduction to industrial hygiene the blood-borne pathogens ergonomics fall protection so there's a variety of topics some of them are mandatory some of them are electives but it comprises the whole 10 hours and then the 30-hour training is very similar just includes a lot of the managerial aspects as well all right thank you for that and and uh do you know if the uh uh regulatory board the cannabis board uh is considering regulations regarding uh the uh industry-specific uh training or protections that are required senator picker jessica ferrado for the record again um we have the cannabis compliance board i think on the line to testify i think is neutral there's nothing in this build that would require anything in that of that sort of them um but but i won't speak i won't put words in their mouth all right maybe we can get them to weigh in i do i thought there was a requirement for the board to uh adopt regulations uh consistent with but uh in any event um i'd love to hear their response uh just a quick response there jessica ferrato for the record senator pickard um this bill does allow osha to do regulations as needed um to comply with the bill so that's probably the item that you're thinking about um that's specific to osha all right that's great thank you thank you um senator sotomayor thank you ma'am sure i was just curious you know when this bill came up a long time ago for the construction industry you know all those individuals basically like the majority of them were employed full-time without industry i know a couple individuals that work within the cannabis establishments and in that respect they're they're not full-time employees necessary so it's apply to everybody even if they're just working four or five hours a week or does this only apply to individuals that are working a 40-hour week or how is that determination made and also it if are they having everyone go through the same course even if the person that works there is just maybe doing delivery or i was just curious thank you senator settlemeyer jessica ferrato for the record the intention of the bill is to cover cover all employees of cannabis establishments um we didn't differentiate between part-time and full-time workers um i'll take that back though and do a little research from a statutory standpoint in the language in the bill to see if it does specify um so i think from our perspective if you're an employee of a cannabis establishment it would be required that you would get an osha 10 course and and thank you settlemyre excuse me i know in the construction industry some some of those folks come and go and some of those are part-time and and and some of them are just delivering materials and all of them are are getting the osha tech and and regardless of that status so we're trying to create some parity to industries such as that within this industry thank you thank you um we have vice chair neil washington yeah thank you uh chair spearman so i just had a quick question the bill the bill's interesting i had a chance to really think about it last night um but i guess what i wanted to know is like the status of the employees and how they function and i'm glad that senator brooks brought up that um some are part-time and some are full-time because my um i know some people who've worked they've switched several companies and i was wondering like do they even have health care i mean we're talking about osha but and then you were talking about all of these chemicals and things that they're exposed to but um one of my nephews has done security for a company for over a year and he doesn't even have health insurance so we're talking about safety and then i'm wondering okay if you're being exposed to all these chemicals and then you don't even have health care but yet you're a full-time employee right senator neil jessica ferrato for the record i know that i'm here speaking today on behalf of the workers so i think that question is better suited for the employers in terms of what individual businesses and companies offer their employees i can get you some information from our perspective in terms of what we see in industry-wide for the workers and i can follow up with that but that question might be better suited for the employers so can i have a quick follow-up because if this is a nuanced piece where safety is then being required through this bill right if this bill passes then we're we're saying that there's certain safety standards that will be in place that an employer will be responsible but how does it work in the workers comp realm where these work-related injuries if they had not been established through statutory provision then what is the scale of the workers comp injury that they can actually get relief for and uh senator neal senator brooks for the record uh this this doesn't change the safety standards or that that are required in a workplace this doesn't change the coverage for workers comp that is is provided in a workplace this just creates safety education for the workers in that workplace and so what we're trying to do is avoid more workman's comp um claims to try to avoid worker injuries and in this industry but this doesn't this doesn't address the workers or or uh safety standards in the workplace which are covered in in other statutes and other codes okay because i was just super curious because you know workers comp is pretty hard to prove and if you're being if it's i haven't i've i guess as this industry has grown up i've never seen anything in statute that said if you're exposed to carbon dioxide in a cannabis facility then here are the injuries that we are going to treat and then you have a viable claim or if the individuals who are even functioning in the dispensary know that they have that right or do they just go home sick and lay down for 12 hours and say i think i'm good i know i'm going on a tangent but seriously i'm like i just don't think that there is that level of sophistication good question senator neil senator brooks of the record um you know your question about health care for for the workforce and your question about you know safety education for the workforce and and hazards that are faced in the workplace i i think apply to many industries in our state and this is why we're trying to take a look at an emerging industry in our state that quite frankly has a lot of people involved in it that don't have a lot of experience with maybe some of more other industrial operations or other things that are similar to this industry and and so this is the first step and and at least educating the workforce on how they can have a safe work environment and and it also kind of creates a culture of safety um within the organization once you once you introduce osha 10 and osha 30 into the into an organization it really empowers the workforce themselves to really start thinking about safety in a whole different way that's why i think it's such an important step okay thank you senator brooks thank you chair thank you um and um vice chair you had a question that i think mr radle said would was better suited for the employees i want to want to see if we have someone employers have anyone on the line representing cannabis industry that might be able to address the question now so we don't forget it again is there anyone on the line representing the cannabis industry that might be able to address vice chair neal's question i believe it was on health insurance and compensation workers comp yes uh standby chair i'm working on that right now thank you okay thank you um if there is currently anyone in the queue that can answer senator neil's question can you please press star nine now to take your place in the queue caller with the last three digits of 184 please slowly spell and state your name for the record hi good morning senator uh senator spearman this is matt walker m-a-t-t w-a-l-k-e-r on behalf of the nevada dispensary association um we'll send the committee over a more comprehensive overview of the salary and benefits that are typical for the cannabis industry here in nevada but i did want to let you know that we of course comply with all the workmen's comp requirements and we also the nevada dispensary association offers a plan to its members through core prime that are available for employees and certainly many businesses do take advantage of that satisfactory i'll wait for the expansive letter okay and we certainly appreciate that opportunity again matt walker for the record adam chair yes uh if i may while he's still on um if i could ask you know what the cost for the uh process is for the 10 and the 30 and the individual regulations do they have some kind of idea what that is if he's still on the line sure senator spearman i apologize in the on the phone it's hard to tell if i have the shared consent to answer but again matt walker on behalf of the nevada discussion association for the record um and we would appreciate clarity on what osha training requirements will be required as part of this i think as the proponents of the bill explain this would be a general industry requirement but there are still opportunities for regulations to be adopted by either the cannabis compliance board or the um for osha and so we certainly want to have a very clear understanding if the consequence is the immediate termination of employees we think we owe it to this over 6 000 employees from our members to to have a real understanding of what's going to be required certainly general osha training is readily available but again as this may be customized through regulations we certainly are concerned about the timelines and availability associated with those training i guess what i asked was how much does it cost for the osha training than just pure and simple uh senator senator chris brooks for the record um senator hardy uh uh osha 10 cost about 80 osha 30 180 um it's been my experience that and then there are some free classes offered by osha through the scats program and a lot of times what i've seen in my past experience is you'll get a large group of your employees together and do it all at once and um and the employer will um bear that cost if they have a in-house osha or an instructor that they brought into to construct all their employees so it's 80 per person not per group that is correct thank you thank you madam chair for your indulgence thank you um senator picker is your hand up or was that from the last time uh yes sir that's nice yes sir uh yes ma'am chair i just uh if while we've got uh um i i don't know if this is appropriate though because i assumed he was going to come up in opposition uh because they're recommending um some amendments but i i'm wondering uh what they current what the dispensaries currently do i notice that they've requested to exempt the dispensary workers and it sounds like ms verado testified that we've got a lot of vertical integration that might uh kind of blur that but i'm wondering why the association thinks that they should be exempted and what they're currently doing to train their employees if he knows chair spearman uh with your permission uh this is matt walker on behalf of the nevada dispensary association hey matt just go direct matt just go direct everyone who's answering just go direct okay thank you for the the question senator pickard so uh we i apologize i was looking for some materials so we are certainly thinking that it's appropriate for dispensary employees that only hold an agent card for dispensaries to be exempted from this requirement unlike california where where folks may be transitioning from facility to facility absent that's specific authorization from the state in nevada we have a very secure system where folks have location specific agent cards so certainly while it's appropriate may be appropriate for a production facility employee with a production facility agent registration card to receive that osha's specific training associated with their fellow employees at that facility an employee who only is working in the retail setting and only has an agent registration card associated with that retail environment we really feel like it's not appropriate for a state mandated workforce training for for that employee but it's my understanding that in talking to uh members of the dispensaries themselves uh in fact my next-door neighbor is one uh he's an executive they already do this training and so uh you know that in the the specific training necessary for the dispensary so i'm wondering uh is that i well i'd like to get some clarity on is there a lot of overlap is it the same kind of training do they cover the same things ultimately is the osha 10 training necessary if the dispensaries are already doing this uh and if if they are why aren't we tasking the uh cannabis board but anyway that probably goes beyond the scope so i'm not sure you can answer that but i'd like to get some clarity senator picker matt walker for the record i i would say that we we're also concerned that the you know costs associated with the paid hours um when we use that for for workplace training we want to make sure that it's directly applicable and and the most efficient use of that time and we certainly share some of the thoughts and concerns that you express uh we strongly feel like the that this this could be dialed in to better account for the the retail environment and that as you mentioned many employers because of reduction in insurance rates or just because they feel like it's the right thing to do for their employees are already doing mandatory trainings and awareness and certainly the ccb has been at the forefront of making sure that that's the standard part of applications and applicant behavior going forward all right thank you and and thank you madam chair for your indulgence i do appreciate it thank you um bye sure new did you still have a question um i just had a quick question and i guess you know this is for my education right i mean we see i see the statutory changes i see the dispensaries in my district but i don't visit right i don't i don't really get into interaction of business right so when i was thinking about how the employers pay and how the employers will be paying per card um have we worked out that that inter transfer of money i know we um in 2019 we had uh trying to create a system where it was kind of like this debit card that would load money on and then you'd be able to uh move money and transfer money i mean how how does that work because that's intergovernmental transfer i guess of funds because they're going to play osha for the osha card which is a industry card and so how does that work can you just tell me what how how far we've progressed in terms of money transfers senator senator neil um i think again this is you're asking if the employer how the employers are paying essentially bills currently based on the the banking of the issues with the industry is that your question or how i think that might be better suited for the industry just because i i represent the workers who aren't um you know making payments on behalf of the businesses if that's what your question is can you clarify sorry senator neil you're you're muted oh sorry it's called the zoom effect um i was saying that yeah i was just trying to get an understanding get some education on that if it's like 80 a card for you know an osha 10 times like 2 000 people then that transfer of money for those employees to take that would then is that on a debit card how does how does this inner transfer of marijuana money work in government transfers i'll start from the employee side senator neil and then maybe you have some additional questions for industry representatives what i will say is that um in many instances and what what we've done in some other states as well as as what i think the intention is here is for them to get this training potentially on site many employer groups provide this training for their workers as well as their opportunities through osha as senator brooks mentioned and programs at osha to get this training for free so um i think that it would be better suited for the industry to answer how they would plan to be paying for this as the bill requires you know the industry to pay for these fees but i think that there are a lot of opportunities in the state not only through osha but through employer groups to get this training for free and um on site okay walker i'm sorry i was going to ask mr walker still on if he can address this for the industry sure sheriff spearman i'm happy to do that senator neil thank you for the question matt walker for the record on behalf of the nevada dispensary association while we still struggle with the access to banking under the current federal regulatory structures most all businesses have figured out a way to pay various vendors um although it does come at some additional cost that a typical business wouldn't wouldn't have associated with the transfer of money but whether it's an internal staff member who's been trained up to provide that training or an external vendor you know cannabis businesses would be able to to make that happen and this is a good opportunity for me to mention that the cannabis boards regulation 6.071 already requires safety training and so i think businesses are already figuring out a way to navigate that and probably have a process in place thank you chair no problem uh senator lange thank you chair my question is about infection um in the section i think at 11 when they are when the employers are paying for the employees um i understand now because the employees haven't been trained that the employers would pay for them to get trained but after the current employees are all trained wouldn't it be a condition of employment that you would have an osha card and so then the employer would not pay any more thank you senator lang jessica ferrato for the record uh osha cards do not expire so it's the intention that they that they test for osha and that they receive that card indefinitely right but if they're hiring a new employee couldn't that be a condition of employment that they hold that card so then the employer would no longer have to pay in the future do you see what i'm saying so if i'm an employee if i'm an employee right now i need to go get under this bill i need to go get my osha card so once everyone has gotten their osha card that's a current employee and i now pretend i'm a new person i'm coming in couldn't it be a a condition of employment uh of higher that you will have your osha card so then the employer would no longer have to pay for them understood thank you senator lang understood the question now um i i think that your line of questioning is an appropriate one i think it's our intention from the workers perspective that this is part of the responsibility of the employer to make sure that their sites are safe and that that cost would be picked up um i there's nothing in the bill that would address that type of provision right an employment practice that would then require that of employees um so but but but the intention of the bill is to have the employers require that and hope that the statute would cover it yeah i think that's something we should look at because i i think that having a continual um uh requirement that employers would have to pay when it would be easy for you know when i do an application process when i was doing operations i would list all the things you had to have to become employed at my business so that could be a condition of employment and therefore it wouldn't rest on the employer in the future senator lang was that a question or a comment or a comment thank you okay okay thank you um so i have just a couple of questions and uh my question goes more to um how the industry does or is or is not uh a part of the a part of the party's trying to deconstruct systemic racism and it goes to demographics i don't know mr walker if you know what the demographics are or the employees and i ask this question because if there are elements of their employment that would be uh i'm trying to capture what dr hardy asked that would be medically abusive use that term what covet 19 has done is it has exposed the whole health care system that bipolar communities are certainly underserved so my question would be if if there is a majority of employees who are members of these communities black indigenous brown and people of color um what is the likelihood that number one uh they might be exposed and maybe there there might be some co-morbidities that exist there and how would that um how would that work with workman's comp and i hope the question is not convoluted matt walker for the record senator experiment thank you for the for the question um i i am not going to do a public health or um workman's comp attorney uh impression on on this call but i will follow up with some additional information i would say that because of your efforts and the efforts of senator harris in the previous session we do have a much better idea of the uh the makeup of the employee pool um and we we understand that about half of the employees that at cannabis establishments who responded to the cannabis compliance board survey um are persons of color or non-white individuals and so um certainly think that it's a diverse pool that represents the the diverse makeup of nevada and we're proud of that um in terms of the the impacts on on communities of color for for covid i i certainly um recognize that and understand that it takes uh us you know those systemic conversations across many industries and systems to to address those inequities but again i'll i'll have to um defer to the experts and follow up with some more comprehensive information on this question and thank you mr walker i wasn't speaking specifically about um about covert 19 i just know richard neal asked the question about workman's comp and i don't know what the ratio is for owners to employees i've got a pretty good understanding that most of the owners are white and most of the employees are non-white so that that would go into my question about work workman's comp there may be some people who are more susceptible and maybe maybe eraser ethnicity doesn't have anything to do with maybe has to do with their their medical makeup but the question would be what what safety controls are in place to make sure that that the workers who are probably members of bipol communities uh and are and exposed every day versus the owners who may only be exposed periodically who are white how would that play in workms comp you don't have to answer that that's probably more of a more of a question um i mean more of a statement than a question um but the other thing i'd like to know is a couple years ago uh we did some things uh in the legislature to make sure that uh firefighters and um other first responders uh had an opportunity to do workman's comp after their employment if their health related issues were a part of that or could be traced back to that employment someone works at a dispensary and they leave a year and a half later they develop some type of respiratory issue and the doctor says you know where did you work uh what did you do and then the doctor says oh okay so this is probably connected to whatever you did at that aim at that site so is there a way have you looked at a way to make sure that after the employee exits if there are health complications related to their employment there that they can still be taken care of and properly compensated matt walker for the record on behalf of the nevada dispensary association i i certainly am not aware of any presumptive eligibility conversations specific to the cannabis industry um i would be happy to um survey um some of the experts um associated with our membership and and respond to that but i think it also highlights the fact that um when it comes to supervisor employees that don't necessarily have interaction day to day um in the workplace and when it comes to the fact that there's huge inherent differences between the dispensary retail environment and uh say a cultivation or production facility i think that that highlights our response to this measure and that we strongly feel that this could be customized to better reflect the realities on the ground and i appreciate the opportunity to follow up with you with the additional information thank you i'll be looking for that forward towards that committee members are there any other questions if not broadcast we will now go to those in support and for this segment there will be 30 minutes uh two minutes per and again would ask those if someone has already made your point if you can say ditto that allows us to get more people in the public comment sector so we'll go now to support thank you chair to testify in support of sb 122 please press star 9 now to take your place in the queue caller with the last three digits of four five one please slowly spell and state your name for the record you have two minutes and may begin caller with alaska digits of four five one you have two minutes please slowly spell and state your name for the records you may begin my name is amber bauer a-m-b-e-r-b-a-u-r good morning chair and members my name is amber bauer executive director of the united food and commercial workers western states council ufcw proudly represents over 6 800 members in nevada many of whom work in grocery stores retail establishments chemical manufacturing food processing plants and legal cannabis industry our members have been deemed essential workers throughout this pandemic and have risked their lives and their families lives by going to work every day to serve nevada while they shelter in place at home today i am testifying on behalf of our cannabis workers and support of sbe 122. which requires employees and the cannabis industry to complete a specified health and safety course one year after being hired ufcw members and the legal cannabis industry work in growing and cultivating facilities retail manufacturing and processing facilities and in laboratories and dispensaries wherever cannabis is legalized the ufcw is committed to building a successful industry with a thriving diverse and skilled workforce we know workers face many health and safety risks and the cannabis industry including exposure to heat illness pesticides and blood-borne pathogens to repetitive stress injuries and flammable chemical hazards unfortunately there is not much research or data on what makes a cannabis workplace safe because researchers are still reluctant to study this quasi-legal industry additionally regulating cannabis is unique never before in the history of the state has a widespread industry long skilled at operating outside of the law become legal and expected to comply with all laws including critical workplace health and safety laws that present my members and your constituents from falling ill being injured or dying therefore it is critical that we ensure workers and supervisors have the training necessary to ensure preventable injuries do not occur in the workplace and to keep workers and consumers safe sp 120 would establish okay thank you okay i'm sorry uh amber you can submit the rest of your testimony and we'll make sure that it's part of the record thank you though holler with the last three digits of zero one eight please slowly spell and state your name for the record you have two minutes and may begin good morning my name is jim sullivan j-i-m-s-u-l-l-i-v-a-n and i'm here representing the culinary workers union local 226 we support sb 122 because all workers deserve to work in a safe and healthy environment and proper training is the key to making this happen our health and safety training program has reduced injuries and saved lives in the hospitality industry and we believe it would have the same positive effect in the cannabis industry in addition the pandemic has shown that health and safety training is more important than ever for all workers we fully support sb 122 and urge you to vote yes thank you thank you that was the end of my testimony thank you committee begin broadcast do we have anyone else in support uh yes we do caller with the last rejects of 204 please slowly spell and state your name for the record you have two minutes and may begin uh thank you madam chair member of the committee for the record rusty mcallister uh nevada state afl-cio uh we're calling also today in support of this bill we believe it is a a good policy to improve the worker safety um this industry has especially in the production and the growth area has a lot of safety hazards a lot of safety risk a good training program could help reduce those incidences where we have problems just as a you know give you guys an idea you know just the process of of of i looked online finding extracting hash oil requires pouring butane over cannabis to extract the hash oil out of the cannabis butane is highly flammable highly explosive there's been a number of instances across the united states where they have had issues with this process so a good safety program is not a bad idea at all secondly just as a note madam chair during the 2019 session ab290 was passed and it was a means by which to track a register or create a registry of trainers and those who have had the program the osha program in the construction industry one of the things that's been discovered is that if there's no registry if there's no tracking of trainers or cards that people can go down to say the broad acre swap meet on the weekend and buy an osha 10 card for the industry and it was necessary to change that policy before uh or two years ago to address that issue so that they had a better tracking of of the cards in the industry to make sure that they weren't getting faults uh people getting uh false cards uh in the process so that's right that's another note just another note madam chair that that might be something to consider in the form of an amendment uh with that i we support this bill thank you madam chair thank you mr mcallister you feel free to submit your written testimony and we'll make sure it's a part of the record so that all your points are made thank you chair you have no more callers and support at this time thank you so we were now moved to uh those in opposition at the same time 30 minutes for this segment to testify in opposition of sb 122 please press star 9 now to take your place in the queue color with the last three digits of 184 please slow y spell and state your name for the record you have two minutes it may begin paula with the last three digits of one eight four you may begin good morning share spearmint committee my name is matt walker m-a-t-t w-a-l-k-e-r and i'm testifying in opposition today to senate bill 122 on behalf of the nevada dispensary association i've already had an opportunity to highlight the key differences between the california model and the nevada model but just want to highlight those briefly again california is a state as a federal osha plan and nevada has a state administered osha plan and we also have a much tighter regulatory structure with agent cards that are specific to uh licensed type and location uh workforce safety workplace safety is important and the association has always have been discussing proposals that would create a better working environment for the over 10 000 employees and cannabis establishments in the state but we feel that this policy should be better tailored to nevada uh the cannabis compliance regulations 6.072 already have an extensive list of training that's required for employees before they begin work and we have highlighted uh some additional suggestions for the bill's sponsor in a letter submitted to nellis but just want to highlight a couple of those one section 15 imposes mandatory penalties from the cannabis compliance board that are out of line with any other industry and again we've had a chance to extensively talk about how the retail environment just doesn't seem to comply with other industries that have mandated osha requirement lastly i'll say that nda is actively working with senator brooks on these issues we would like to express our thanks to ufcw and and the sponsor for uh meeting with us and having conversation about potential ways to dial this policy in for nevada's specific context and we're confident with a few more days we can reach compromises that will benefit all parties thank you we are currently in opposition of sb sb122 please press star 9 now to take your cue again please press star 9 now to testify in opposition of sb 122 chair you have no more callers in opposition at this time thank you we'll move now to neutral same thing 30 minutes for this segment thank you chair to testify neutral in sb 122 please press star 9 now to take your place in the queue again we are taking testimony neutral on sb 122 please press star 9 now to take your place in the queue chair you have no collars neutral at this time thank you um so i i got a message that i think planet 13 had an amendment that they wanted to enter into the record uh senator brooks uh it's always my policy not to um accept amendments in the hearing unless the um person who is presenting the bill knows about it so do you know about this amendment have you conferred with the folks at planet 13 uh thank you chair spearman i i have not um i just saw that pop up uh as well and uh and um but i have been working with the nevada dispensary association very closely and with uh mr walker and uh and i think that there are some common sense suggestions that they've made in these conversations and um i can uh imagine that with your permission i would be um submitting a amendment that incorporated some of those suggestions um for your uh review before if and if and when and before we were to work session of this bill thank you um and if anyone from planet 13 is listening i believe your amendment is already on nellis and so i would just encourage you to continue talking with senator brooks uh for those who do not know um it's always my policy never to um never to have an amendment read during the hearing unless the sponsor knows about it i just i do that for common courtesy so that the sponsor knows exactly what he or she is facing and they can answer appropriately so i believe the amendment is in nellis and senator brooks you have suggested your suggestion about giving you time uh julie noted uh you all get together and let me know when you all get to go thank you chair i appreciate that no problem um are there any additional questions from committee members okay senator pickard you disappoint me i thought certainly your hand would be up you know uh after the tenor of uh some of the prior meetings i've thought better and and i take them up offline but i appreciate your concern and your thought i i won't uh miss uh or i won't disappoint you next time please do please please do disappoint me thank you so much okay so uh with that uh noted we will close the hearing on senate bill 122 and we will open now for public comment thank you chair to speak in public comment please press star 9 now to take your place in the queue chair your public line is open and working and no one wishes to speak in public comment at this time okay we'll give it about another minute and a half just to make sure if they're having technical difficulties they can still get through okay standing by thank you check um okay seems like we don't have anyone in public comment so many members i thank you so much for your indulgence for senator brooks thank you and those either support or in opposition thank you for a very robust conversation on this bill and it is my hope that you will be able to get together and talk this out and please by all means let me know when you get to go so we can take this into work session okay thank you and with that and no other comments from our committee members we are now adjourned thank you