RI cannabis commission nominees head to Senate for full approval. Who they are.

Gov. Dan McKee’s three picks for the new Cannabis Control Commission each pledged to regulate Rhode Island’s nascent adult-use marijuana industry equitably and evenly on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-to-0 to send their nominations on to the full Senate for consideration.

Who are the nominees?

Layi Oduyingbo

Two of the nominees, Kimberly Ahern, McKee’s deputy chief of staff, and Robert Jacquard, a former longtime Cranston representative, were familiar to lawmakers. The third nominee, Layi Oduyingbo, a lawyer like the other two nominees, seemed less so, but received the same encouragement and support from the committee.

Oduyingbo described himself as the son of Nigerian parents who came to the Ocean State “with nothing in order to provide excellent opportunities for their future children. That is exactly what we have received.”

He thanked his mother “for her unlimited sacrifices, and my wife who has always supported me. She is an excellent wife, mother, motivator ... and a speech language pathologist if anyone is looking for one,” he said, drawing chuckles from committee members.

Oduyingbo received an accounting degree from Providence College before changing gears and earning a law degree from Roger Williams University.

As a student lawyer for Rhode Island Legal Services, he said he worked with clients with open cases in the Department of Children, Youth & Families and in that role witnessed how socio-economic factors like race and income “played a factor in them ending up before the court.”

He also worked as a corporate lawyer for a “world company that has its headquarters in Providence," advising various divisions on “ethics and compliance matters” before eventually starting his own law firm in Cranston, where he helps “victims of employment discrimination.”

As a person of color, he said, “I must say that historically, the policing of drugs has disproportionately affected Black and brown communities.” Noting that the Rhode Island law legalizing recreational use of marijuana includes social equity provisions for these communities, he said, “it is up to the commission to carry out its duties in a way that is equitable and just.”

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Kimberly Ahern

Ahern, who would serve as the commission’s chair, has worked for two governors, McKee and Gina Raimondo, and before that worked for nine years as a special assistant attorney general under three attorneys general.

If confirmed, she said, she would implement policies of the marijuana legalization act “that are safe, transparent and equitable in the years to come.”

She said her previous work on criminal-justice groups focused on “breaking down barriers” to the social reentry of formerly imprisoned people “will inform my awareness on social equity moving forward ... I’m eager to get started on those aspects as well.”

Like Oduyingbo, Ahern is also a parent, of two young children, and said “health and safety standards will be a top priority" for her.

In congratulating Ahern on her nomination, Sen. Matthew La Mountain, who worked with her in the attorney general’s office, said, “I don’t think the governor could have picked anyone better to chair this commission ... I have no reservations you will continue to do great work for this commission.”

Robert Jacquard

Robert Jacquard worked as a police officer for 23 years in Cranston, and also represented his home city as a state representative from 1993 to 2021, and is now in private law practice.

Testifying in his behalf, fellow Cranston state Sen. Hanna Gallo came with a basket of adjectives to describe him: “The most genuine, patient, kind, ethical – he has excellent judgment – intelligent, hardworking, team person, people skills, … who will go to the ends of the earth for anybody.”

Jacquard told the committee he had been married for 20 years and was the proud father of one daughter who had done five tours of duty in the military and is now an air-traffic controller working for the Federal Aviation Administration.

He said he attained his law degree after years of night school and had a diverse clientele from which he had learned much.

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He said the legalization law, which among other things gives the commission the power to dispense licenses for more marijuana stores, is “pro-business, maximizes revenue to the state, protects the public and it also implements a lot of social equity mandates.”

“And I think that, if the commission works within the framework of the act, we are going to be very successful in the state with this nascent industry.”

Jacquard said the public will be looking to see that the commission makes its decisions "fairly and evenly."

"And I pledge to work with the members of the commission, if appointed, to do just that," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Retail marijuana in RI: Cannabis Commission nominees move forward