N.M. Code R. § 7.34.2.10 - ADVISORY BOARD PUBLIC HEARING PROCEDURES
A.
Public hearing requirement:
The advisory board shall convene by public hearing at least twice per year to
accept and review petitions requesting the inclusion of medical conditions,
medical treatments or diseases to the list of debilitating medical conditions.
Any meeting consisting of a quorum of the advisory board members held for the
purpose of evaluating, discussing or otherwise formulating specific opinions
concerning the recommendation of a petition filed pursuant to this rule, shall
be declared a public hearing open to the public at all times, unless a portion
of the hearing is closed to protect information made confidential by applicable
state or federal laws. A petitioner or his or her representative may request to
close a portion of the hearing to protect the disclosure of confidential
information by submitting their request in writing and having that request
delivered to medical cannabis program staff at least 48 hours prior to the
hearing.
B.
Location of the
public hearing: Unless otherwise ordered by the advisory board, the
public hearing shall be in held in New Mexico at a location sufficient to
accommodate the anticipated audience.
C.
Public hearing notice: The
medical cannabis program manager or designee shall, upon direction from the
advisory board chairperson, prepare a notice of public hearing setting forth
the date, time and location of the hearing, a brief description of the
petitions received, and information on the requirements for public comment or
statement of intent to present technical evidence, and no later than 30 days
prior to the hearing date, send copies, with requests for publication, to at
least one newspaper of general circulation. The program manager or designee may
further issue notice of the hearing by any other means the department
determines to be acceptable to provide notice to the public.
D.
Public hearing agenda: The
department shall make available an agenda containing a list of specific items
to be discussed or information on how the public may obtain a copy of such
agenda.
E.
Postponement of
hearing: Request for postponement of a public hearing will be granted,
by the advisory board for good cause shown.
F.
Statement of intent to present
technical evidence: Any individual or association of individuals who
wish to present technical evidence at the hearing shall, no later than 15 days
prior to the date of the hearing, file a statement of intent. The statement of
intent to present technical evidence shall include:
(1) the name of the person filing the
statement;
(2) indication of
whether the person filing the statement supports or opposes the petition at
issue;
(3) the name of each
witness;
(4) an estimate of the
length of the direct testimony of each witness;
(5) a list of exhibits, if any, to be offered
into evidence at the hearing; and
(6) a summary or outline of the anticipated
direct testimony of each witness.
G.
Ex parte discussions: At no
time after the initiation and before the conclusion of the petition process
under this part, shall the department, or any other party, interested
participant or their representatives discuss ex parte the merits of the
petitions with any advisory board member.
H.
Public hearing process: The
advisory board chairperson shall conduct the public hearing so as to provide a
reasonable opportunity for all interested persons to be heard without making
the hearing unreasonably lengthy or cumbersome or burdening the record with
unnecessary repetition.
(1) A quorum of the
advisory board shall consist of five voting members.
(2) The advisory board chairperson or
alternate shall convene each public hearing by:
(a) introduction of the advisory board
members;
(b) statutory authority of
the board;
(c) statement of the
public hearing agenda; and
(d)
recognition of the petitioner.
(3) Petitioner comment period. The petitioner
or by representative may present evidence to the advisory board. The advisory
board shall only consider findings of fact or scientific conclusions of medical
evidence presented by the petitioner or by representative to the advisory board
prior to or contemporaneously with the public hearing.
(4)
Public comment period: The
advisory board may provide for a public comment period. Public comment may be
by written comment, verbal or both.
(a)
Written comment: Any individual or association of individuals may
submit written comment to the advisory board either in opposition or support of
the inclusion of a medical conditions, medical treatments or diseases to the
existing list of debilitating medical conditions contained under the act. All
written comment shall adhere to the requirements of Subsection F of this
section.
(b)
Public
comment: Any member of the general public may testify at the public
hearing. No prior notification is required to present general non-technical
statements in support of or in opposition to the petition. Any such member may
also offer exhibits in connection with his testimony, so long as the exhibit is
non-technical in nature and not unduly repetitious of the testimony.
I.
Recording the
hearing: Unless the advisory board orders otherwise, the hearing will be
audio recorded. Any person, other than the advisory board, desiring a copy of
the audio tapes must arrange copying with the medical cannabis program or
designee at their own expense.
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.