S.B. No. 339

	AN ACT
	relating to the medical use of low-THC cannabis and the regulation
	of related organizations and individuals; requiring a dispensing
	organization to obtain a license to dispense low-THC cannabis and
	any employee of a dispensing organization to obtain a registration;
	authorizing fees.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 6, Health and Safety Code, is
	amended by adding Chapter 487 to read as follows:
	CHAPTER 487.  TEXAS COMPASSIONATE-USE ACT
	SUBCHAPTER A.  GENERAL PROVISIONS
	Sec. 487.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
	(1)  "Department" means the Department of Public
	Safety.
	(2)  "Director" means the public safety director of the
	department.
	(3)  "Dispensing organization" means an organization
	licensed by the department to cultivate, process, and dispense
	low-THC cannabis to a patient for whom low-THC cannabis is
	prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code.
	(4)  "Low-THC cannabis" has the meaning assigned by
	Section 169.001, Occupations Code.
	SUBCHAPTER B.  DUTIES OF DEPARTMENT
	Sec. 487.051.  DUTIES OF DEPARTMENT. The department shall
	administer this chapter.
	Sec. 487.052.  RULES. The director shall adopt any rules
	necessary for the administration and enforcement of this chapter,
	including rules imposing fees under this chapter in amounts
	sufficient to cover the cost of administering this chapter.
	Sec. 487.053.  LICENSING OF DISPENSING ORGANIZATIONS AND
	REGISTRATION OF CERTAIN ASSOCIATED INDIVIDUALS. (a)  The
	department shall:
	(1)  issue or renew a license to operate as a dispensing
	organization to each applicant who satisfies the requirements
	established under this chapter; and
	(2)  register directors, managers, and employees of
	each dispensing organization.
	(b)  The department shall enforce compliance of licensees
	and registrants and shall adopt procedures for suspending or
	revoking a license or registration issued under this chapter and
	for renewing a license or registration issued under this chapter.
	Sec. 487.054.  COMPASSIONATE-USE REGISTRY. (a)  The
	department shall establish and maintain a secure online
	compassionate-use registry that contains:
	(1)  the name of each physician who registers as the
	prescriber for a patient under Section 169.004, Occupations Code,
	the name and date of birth of the patient, the dosage prescribed,
	the means of administration ordered, and the total amount of
	low-THC cannabis required to fill the patient's prescription; and
	(2)  a record of each amount of low-THC cannabis
	dispensed by a dispensing organization to a patient under a
	prescription.
	(b)  The department shall ensure the registry:
	(1)  is designed to prevent more than one qualified
	physician from registering as the prescriber for a single patient;
	(2)  is accessible to law enforcement agencies and
	dispensing organizations for the purpose of verifying whether a
	patient is one for whom low-THC cannabis is prescribed and whether
	the patient's prescriptions have been filled; and
	(3)  allows a physician qualified to prescribe low-THC
	cannabis under Section 169.002, Occupations Code, to input safety
	and efficacy data derived from the treatment of patients for whom
	low-THC cannabis is prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code.
	SUBCHAPTER C.  LICENSE TO OPERATE AS DISPENSING ORGANIZATION
	Sec. 487.101.  LICENSE REQUIRED. A license issued by the
	department under this chapter is required to operate a dispensing
	organization.
	Sec. 487.102.  ELIGIBILITY FOR LICENSE. An applicant for a
	license to operate as a dispensing organization is eligible for the
	license if:
	(1)  as determined by the department, the applicant
	possesses:
	(A)  the technical and technological ability to
	cultivate and produce low-THC cannabis;
	(B)  the ability to secure:
	(i)  the resources and personnel necessary
	to operate as a dispensing organization; and
	(ii)  premises reasonably located to allow
	patients listed on the compassionate-use registry access to the
	organization through existing infrastructure;
	(C)  the ability to maintain accountability for
	the raw materials, the finished product, and any by-products used
	or produced in the cultivation or production of low-THC cannabis to
	prevent unlawful access to or unlawful diversion or possession of
	those materials, products, or by-products; and
	(D)  the financial ability to maintain operations
	for not less than two years from the date of application;
	(2)  each director, manager, or employee of the
	applicant is registered under Subchapter D; and
	(3)  the applicant satisfies any additional criteria
	determined by the director to be necessary to safely implement this
	chapter.
	Sec. 487.103.  APPLICATION.  (a)  A person may apply for an
	initial or renewal license to operate as a dispensing organization
	by submitting a form prescribed by the department along with the
	application fee in an amount set by the director.
	(b)  The application must include the name and address of the
	applicant, the name and address of each of the applicant's
	directors, managers, and employees, and any other information
	considered necessary by the department to determine the applicant's
	eligibility for the license.
	Sec. 487.104.  ISSUANCE, RENEWAL, OR DENIAL OF LICENSE.
	(a)  The department shall issue or renew a license to operate as a
	dispensing organization only if:
	(1)  the department determines the applicant meets the
	eligibility requirements described by Section 487.102; and
	(2)  issuance or renewal of the license is necessary to
	ensure reasonable statewide access to, and the availability of,
	low-THC cannabis for patients registered in the compassionate-use
	registry and for whom low-THC cannabis is prescribed under Chapter
	169, Occupations Code.
	(b)  If the department denies the issuance or renewal of a
	license under Subsection (a), the applicant is entitled to a
	hearing.  The department shall give written notice of the grounds
	for denial to the applicant at least 30 days before the date of the
	hearing.
	(c)  A license issued or renewed under this section expires
	on the second anniversary of the date of issuance or renewal, as
	applicable.
	Sec. 487.105.  CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK. (a)  An
	applicant for the issuance or renewal of a license to operate as a
	dispensing organization shall provide the department with the
	applicant's name and the name of each of the applicant's directors,
	managers, and employees.
	(b)  Before a dispensing organization licensee hires a
	manager or employee for the organization, the licensee must provide
	the department with the name of the prospective manager or
	employee.  The licensee may not transfer the license to another
	person before that prospective applicant and the applicant's
	directors, managers, and employees pass a criminal history
	background check and are registered as required by Subchapter D.
	(c)  The department shall conduct a criminal history
	background check on each individual whose name is provided to the
	department under Subsection (a) or (b).  The director by rule shall:
	(1)  determine the manner by which an individual is
	required to submit a complete set of fingerprints to the department
	for purposes of a criminal history background check under this
	section; and
	(2)  establish criteria for determining whether an
	individual passes the criminal history background check for the
	purposes of this section.
	(d)  After conducting a criminal history background check
	under this section, the department shall notify the relevant
	applicant or organization and the individual who is the subject of
	the criminal history background check as to whether the individual
	passed the criminal history background check.
	Sec. 487.106.  DUTY TO MAINTAIN ELIGIBILITY. A dispensing
	organization must maintain compliance at all times with the
	eligibility requirements described by Section 487.102.
	Sec. 487.107.  DUTIES RELATING TO DISPENSING PRESCRIPTION.
	(a)  Before dispensing low-THC cannabis to a person for whom the
	low-THC cannabis is prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code,
	the dispensing organization must verify that the prescription
	presented:
	(1)  is for a person listed as a patient in the
	compassionate-use registry;
	(2)  matches the entry in the compassionate-use
	registry with respect to the total amount of low-THC cannabis
	required to fill the prescription; and
	(3)  has not previously been filled by a dispensing
	organization as indicated by an entry in the compassionate-use
	registry.
	(b)  After dispensing low-THC cannabis to a patient for whom
	the low-THC cannabis is prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations
	Code, the dispensing organization shall record in the
	compassionate-use registry the form and quantity of low-THC
	cannabis dispensed and the date and time of dispensation.
	Sec. 487.108.  LICENSE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION.  (a)  The
	department may at any time suspend or revoke a license issued under
	this chapter if the department determines that the licensee has not
	maintained the eligibility requirements described by Section
	487.102 or has failed to comply with a duty imposed under this
	chapter.
	(b)  The director shall give written notice to the dispensing
	organization of a license suspension or revocation under this
	section and the grounds for the suspension or revocation. The
	notice must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested.
	(c)  After suspending or revoking a license issued under this
	chapter, the director may seize or place under seal all low-THC
	cannabis and drug paraphernalia owned or possessed by the
	dispensing organization. If the director orders the revocation of
	the license, a disposition may not be made of the seized or sealed
	low-THC cannabis or drug paraphernalia until the time for
	administrative appeal of the order has elapsed or until all appeals
	have been concluded. When a revocation order becomes final, all
	low-THC cannabis and drug paraphernalia may be forfeited to the
	state as provided under Subchapter E, Chapter 481.
	(d)  Chapter 2001, Government Code, applies to a proceeding
	under this section.
	SUBCHAPTER D.  REGISTRATION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS
	Sec. 487.151.  REGISTRATION REQUIRED. (a)  An individual
	who is a director, manager, or employee of a dispensing
	organization must apply for and obtain a registration under this
	section.
	(b)  An applicant for a registration under this section must:
	(1)  be at least 18 years of age;
	(2)  submit a complete set of fingerprints to the
	department in the manner required by department rule; and
	(3)  pass a fingerprint-based criminal history
	background check as required by Section 487.105.
	(c)  A registration expires on the second anniversary of the
	date of the registration's issuance, unless suspended or revoked
	under rules adopted under this chapter.
	SUBCHAPTER E. DUTIES OF COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
	Sec. 487.201.  COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES MAY NOT PROHIBIT
	LOW-THC CANNABIS. A municipality, county, or other political
	subdivision may not enact, adopt, or enforce a rule, ordinance,
	order, resolution, or other regulation that prohibits the
	cultivation, production, dispensing, or possession of low-THC
	cannabis, as authorized by this chapter.
	SECTION 2.  Section 481.062(a), Health and Safety Code, as
	amended by S.B. 219, Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session,
	2015, is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The following persons are not required to register and
	may possess a controlled substance under this chapter:
	(1)  an agent or employee of a registered manufacturer,
	distributor, analyzer, or dispenser of the controlled substance
	acting in the usual course of business or employment;
	(2)  a common or contract carrier, a warehouseman, or
	an employee of a carrier or warehouseman whose possession of the
	controlled substance is in the usual course of business or
	employment;
	(3)  an ultimate user or a person in possession of the
	controlled substance under a lawful order of a practitioner or in
	lawful possession of the controlled substance if it is listed in
	Schedule V;
	(4)  an officer or employee of this state, another
	state, a political subdivision of this state or another state, or
	the United States who is lawfully engaged in the enforcement of a
	law relating to a controlled substance or drug or to a customs law
	and authorized to possess the controlled substance in the discharge
	of the person's official duties; [or]
	(5)  if the substance is tetrahydrocannabinol or one of
	its derivatives:
	(A)  a Department of State Health Services
	official, a medical school researcher, or a research program
	participant possessing the substance as authorized under
	Subchapter G; or
	(B)  a practitioner or an ultimate user possessing
	the substance as a participant in a federally approved therapeutic
	research program that the commissioner has reviewed and found, in
	writing, to contain a medically responsible research protocol; or
	(6)  a dispensing organization licensed under Chapter
	487 that possesses low-THC cannabis.
	SECTION 3.  Section 481.111, Health and Safety Code, is
	amended by adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read as follows:
	(e)  Sections 481.120, 481.121, 481.122, and 481.125 do not
	apply to a person who engages in the acquisition, possession,
	production, cultivation, delivery, or disposal of a raw material
	used in or by-product created by the production or cultivation of
	low-THC cannabis if the person:
	(1)  for an offense involving possession only of
	marihuana or drug paraphernalia, is a patient for whom low-THC
	cannabis is prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code, or the
	patient's legal guardian, and the person possesses low-THC cannabis
	obtained under a valid prescription from a dispensing organization;
	or
	(2)  is a director, manager, or employee of a
	dispensing organization and the person, solely in performing the
	person's regular duties at the organization, acquires, possesses,
	produces, cultivates, dispenses, or disposes of:
	(A)  in reasonable quantities, any low-THC
	cannabis or raw materials used in or by-products created by the
	production or cultivation of low-THC cannabis; or
	(B)  any drug paraphernalia used in the
	acquisition, possession, production, cultivation, delivery, or
	disposal of low-THC cannabis.
	(f)  For purposes of Subsection (e):
	(1)  "Dispensing organization" has the meaning
	assigned by Section 487.001.
	(2)  "Low-THC cannabis" has the meaning assigned by
	Section 169.001, Occupations Code.
	SECTION 4.  Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code, is
	amended by adding Chapter 169 to read as follows:
	CHAPTER 169.  AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE LOW-THC CANNABIS TO CERTAIN
	PATIENTS FOR COMPASSIONATE USE
	Sec. 169.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
	(1)  "Department" means the Department of Public
	Safety.
	(2)  "Intractable epilepsy" means a seizure disorder in
	which the patient's seizures have been treated by two or more
	appropriately chosen and maximally titrated antiepileptic drugs
	that have failed to control the seizures.
	(3)  "Low-THC cannabis" means the plant Cannabis sativa
	L., and any part of that plant or any compound, manufacture, salt,
	derivative, mixture, preparation, resin, or oil of that plant that
	contains:
	(A)  not more than 0.5 percent by weight of
	tetrahydrocannabinols; and
	(B)  not less than 10 percent by weight of
	cannabidiol.
	(4)  "Medical use" means the ingestion by a means of
	administration other than by smoking of a prescribed amount of
	low-THC cannabis by a person for whom low-THC cannabis is
	prescribed under this chapter.
	(5)  "Smoking" means burning or igniting a substance
	and inhaling the smoke.
	Sec. 169.002.  PHYSICIAN QUALIFIED TO PRESCRIBE LOW-THC
	CANNABIS. (a)  Only a physician qualified as provided by this
	section may prescribe low-THC cannabis in accordance with this
	chapter.
	(b)  A physician is qualified to prescribe low-THC cannabis
	to a patient with intractable epilepsy if the physician:
	(1)  is licensed under this subtitle;
	(2)  dedicates a significant portion of clinical
	practice to the evaluation and treatment of epilepsy; and
	(3)  is certified:
	(A)  by the American Board of Psychiatry and
	Neurology in:
	(i)  epilepsy; or
	(ii)  neurology or neurology with special
	qualification in child neurology and is otherwise qualified for the
	examination for certification in epilepsy; or
	(B)  in neurophysiology by:
	(i)  the American Board of Psychiatry and
	Neurology; or
	(ii)  the American Board of Clinical
	Neurophysiology.
	Sec. 169.003.  PRESCRIPTION OF LOW-THC CANNABIS. A
	physician described by Section 169.002 may prescribe low-THC
	cannabis to alleviate a patient's seizures if:
	(1)  the patient is a permanent resident of the state;
	(2)  the physician complies with the registration
	requirements of Section 169.004; and
	(3)  the physician certifies to the department that:
	(A)  the patient is diagnosed with intractable
	epilepsy;
	(B)  the physician determines the risk of the
	medical use of low-THC cannabis by the patient is reasonable in
	light of the potential benefit for the patient; and
	(C)  a second physician qualified to prescribe
	low-THC cannabis under Section 169.002 has concurred with the
	determination under Paragraph (B), and the second physician's
	concurrence is recorded in the patient's medical record.
	Sec. 169.004.  LOW-THC CANNABIS PRESCRIBER REGISTRATION.
	Before a physician qualified to prescribe low-THC cannabis under
	Section 169.002 may prescribe or renew a prescription for low-THC
	cannabis for a patient under this chapter, the physician must
	register as the prescriber for that patient in the
	compassionate-use registry maintained by the department under
	Section 487.054, Health and Safety Code. The physician's
	registration must indicate:
	(1)  the physician's name;
	(2)  the patient's name and date of birth;
	(3)  the dosage prescribed to the patient;
	(4)  the means of administration ordered for the
	patient; and
	(5)  the total amount of low-THC cannabis required to
	fill the patient's prescription.
	Sec. 169.005.  PATIENT TREATMENT PLAN. A physician
	described by Section 169.002 who prescribes low-THC cannabis for a
	patient's medical use under this chapter must maintain a patient
	treatment plan that indicates:
	(1)  the dosage, means of administration, and planned
	duration of treatment for the low-THC cannabis;
	(2)  a plan for monitoring the patient's symptoms; and
	(3)  a plan for monitoring indicators of tolerance or
	reaction to low-THC cannabis.
	SECTION 5.  Section 551.004(a), Occupations Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a)  This subtitle does not apply to:
	(1)  a practitioner licensed by the appropriate state
	board who supplies a patient of the practitioner with a drug in a
	manner authorized by state or federal law and who does not operate a
	pharmacy for the retailing of prescription drugs;
	(2)  a member of the faculty of a college of pharmacy
	recognized by the board who is a pharmacist and who performs the
	pharmacist's services only for the benefit of the college;
	(3)  a person who procures prescription drugs for
	lawful research, teaching, or testing and not for resale; [or]
	(4)  a home and community support services agency that
	possesses a dangerous drug as authorized by Section 142.0061,
	142.0062, or 142.0063, Health and Safety Code; or
	(5)  a dispensing organization, as defined by Section
	487.001, Health and Safety Code, that cultivates, processes, and
	dispenses low-THC cannabis, as authorized by Chapter 487, Health
	and Safety Code, to a patient listed in the compassionate-use
	registry established under that chapter.
	SECTION 6.  (a)  Not later than December 1, 2015, the public
	safety director of the Department of Public Safety shall adopt
	rules as required to implement, administer, and enforce Chapter
	487, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, including rules
	to establish the compassionate-use registry required by that
	chapter.
	(b)  Not later than September 1, 2017, the Department of
	Public Safety shall license at least three dispensing organizations
	in accordance with Section 487.053, Health and Safety Code, as
	added by this Act, provided at least three applicants for a license
	to operate as a dispensing organization have met the requirements
	for approval provided by Subchapter C, Chapter 487, Health and
	Safety Code, as added by this Act.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 339 passed the Senate on
	May 7, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 26, Nays 5.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 339 passed the House on
	May 19, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 108, Nays 38, one
	present not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	Approved:
	______________________________
	Date
	______________________________
	Governor