LCB rules team reports 12 open projects, upcoming cannabis advertising hearing and mixed stakeholder feedback

At the April 22 meeting, Kevin Walder, the Liquor and Cannabis Board’s policy and rules manager, briefed members on the rules team's workload and several near-term items.

Walder said the rules team currently manages 12 open rule projects and will request approval to file three expedited rulemakings. He reported a CR101 filing on April 13 to initiate rulemaking for a bill that allows liquor licensees to lease space to one another and said a second CR101 for a separate bill will be filed in May. He also described a completed public hearing for contract kitchens (CR103 package) and an ongoing third‑party economic analysis for retail alcohol product placement.

On cannabis rulemaking, Walder said the agency will hold a public hearing April 23 for implementation of "engrossed House Bill 5,206" for advertising. He said cannabis retail management agreements (implementing substitute senate bill 54 0 3) remain a major focus, and that stakeholder sessions on discounts and volume pricing produced mixed input: "We received 133 emails on this topic ... 78 were clearly opposed to volume pricing ... 54 were written in support," Walder said, adding that when accounting for duplicates the public is fairly evenly divided.

Walder reported the cannabis R&D testing and samples project will progress toward its next draft and that batch tracking work had been deprioritized briefly because of legislative priorities and limited staff capacity. He also noted the rules team received five petitions since the last meeting that require board decisions and formal responses within 60 days.

Walder and other staff urged robust outreach to ensure participation in surveys and stakeholder sessions so that economic analyses and subsequent rule proposals are based on adequate data.

Next steps: public hearing on cannabis advertising April 23, planned CR103 filing for the contract kitchens matter next month, and continued stakeholder engagement and analysis for retail product placement and cannabis rule issues.