Bill to legalize kratom is among five vetoed by McKee

Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal
Updated ·6 min read
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PROVIDENCE − Gov. Dan McKee has vetoed five bills, including one to legalize a psychoactive herb known as "kratom" that squeaked through the legislature on the narrowest of votes.

He has also vetoed bills to:

Asked about the likelihood that lawmakers will seek to override the vetoes, Senate spokesman Greg Pare said: "The Senate president will review the vetoes and discuss them with his colleagues and the Speaker." House spokesman Larry Berman said much the same on behalf of House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.

Kratom

Many bills flew through in the final hours of the General Assembly session but few raised more questions than those legalizing kratom and a bill, introduced on Attorney General Peter Neronha's behalf, to clarify his powers over fraudulent business filings.

The legislation authorizing the sale of kratom − the key ingredient in questionable products often sold at gas stations and smoke shops − cleared the General Assembly in the closing days of the session that ended June 14, despite serious objections from the Rhode Island Department of Health and the medical community.

More: How lobbyists, unlikely allies and hundreds of emails led to RI passing a bill to legalize kratom

Rhode Island is among just six states that ban kratom. That rule has been in place since 2017, when the Department of Health designated the drug's main chemical compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, as Schedule 1 controlled substances.

The so-called Kratom Consumer Protection Act that McKee vetoed would have overturned that decision, and prohibited kratom from being adulterated with dangerous substances, marketed in vape or candy form or sold to people under the age of 21.

The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Hanna Gallo, D-Cranston, and Rep. John "Jay" Edwards, D-Tiverton, who hold leadership roles in their respective chambers.

McKee's veto message echoed concerns raised by the Department of Health, Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, which deals with substance use disorders; the Rhode Island Medical Society and the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association. Among them:

  • "The lack of scientific evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of kratom."

  • "The potential for abuse and addiction and the reports of adverse health effects like seizures, liver damage and "increased risk to youth ... due to easier accessibility, especially without any corresponding funding for education or safety awareness campaigns.

The governor said the state's Division of Taxation requested a veto because "it cannot confidently determine for tax purposes whether kratom is controlled substances, food ... [or] dietary supplements," and the Attorney General's Office requested a veto because it "quite simply lacks the knowledge and expertise to undertake the significant role of regulation of a new controlled substance."

"Due to the overwhelming opposition to this Act by multiple state agencies, the medical community, and the Office of the Attorney General, I cannot support this Act," McKee wrote, while leaving the door open to discussions with the sponsors in the future.

Attorney general's powers

This legislation would have authorized the attorney general to issue investigative demands without a court order and seek damages, and penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and/or the cancellation of a certificate to do business in Rhode Island in response to "repeated illegal acts'' in the "transaction of business or governmental activity."

In his veto message, McKee cited objections by the Rhode Island Business Coalition and warnings by the ACLU of Rhode Island that it would "provide virtually unconstrained authority to the attorney general to conduct civil investigations of suspected or alleged illegality in almost every corner of public or private life."

He said the term "persistent illegality" is an undefined and almost unlimited and, as the opponents noted, the legislation, as written, would "exponentially expand the power of the attorney general to engage in intrusive investigatory practices, and to do so without the presence of any meaningful guardrails."

"The Act would simply empower the attorney general 'to serve as a roving civil law enforcer,'" he wrote.

"I am disappointed to see the Governor’s veto and believe it to be shortsighted, putting the interests of big business ahead of the public interest," Neronha said Thursday in an emailed statement.

Asked for examples of why his office felt it needed the new law, he cited "instances where entities engage in repeated labor violations, my Office lacks the independent authority to investigate or stop that misconduct – a power that other attorneys general, like those in New York and Massachusetts, currently have."

Another example: "Late last year, in an effort to ensure that Rhode Island’s health insurers make certain that every Rhode Islander can find a doctor when they need one, we sought relevant information from the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner.

"OHIC declined to provide that information. This bill would have authorized my Office to seek and receive that information from OHIC and would have enabled a quicker investigation of this critical issue," he said.

Nursing home pay and staffing

In vetoing the advisory board on wages and staffing in nursing homes, McKee cited arguments raised by "numerous Rhode Island nursing and assisting living facilities," including these:

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"[T]his piece of legislation does not address the real issues facing nursing homes, including years of underfunding, increased costs and the lack of an available workforce in the state."

A board "focused so narrowly on only working conditions and wages and without consideration for key constraints such as reimbursement ... will not generate the comprehensive solutions Rhode Island needs to address the nursing home emergency," he concluded.

The union-backed coalition ("Raise the Bar") that sought to create a board with the power to do what McKee would not do – enforce an earlier minimum staffing law – called the veto "a devastating blow to the residents of Rhode Island’s nursing homes."

"Currently, 34 out of 74 nursing homes are rated at two CMS stars or lower, indicating a dire need for improvement in care standards,'' the group said in a statement, urging the General Assembly to override the veto.

Magistrates and contested divorces

But a bill to retroactively allow court magistrates − who were not chosen for their robes through the publicly screened merit-selection process that Rhode Island voters demanded in 1994 − to decide contested divorce cases became law without his signature.

John Marion, the executive director of the citizens' advocacy group Common Cause, was among those calling for a veto. His argument: "Magistrates should not be conducting trials so long as they are not selected in the same manner as judges ... This end run around our Constitution must be stopped. Governor McKee should defend our state Constitution and honor the will of the voters by vetoing these bills."

McKee issued letters explaining why he let some other bills become law without his signature, but not this one.

“We are disappointed that Family Court magistrates now have the power to conduct trials,” Marion said Thursday.  “This subverts the will of the voters who spoke loudly and clearly three decades ago when they insisted that judges be selected using the transparent merit selection process."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The governor also vetoed a bill that would expand the AG's authority to conduct civil investigations.