Last Wednesday, the Oregon cannabis lawsuit we’ve been waiting for finally dropped. Industry operators should tip their hats to plaintiffs Ascend Dispensary and Bubble’s Hash, and our friends at the law firm Fisher Phillips LLP, for stepping up and challenging Ballot Measure 119 in U.S. District Court.
BM 119 passed in November 2024 with 57% of the vote. It requires all OLCC licensed retailers, processors and labs to provide a signed labor peace agreement (LPA) with a bona fide labor organization, to renew or apply for an OLCC license. The requirement took effect almost immediately— we therefore urged eligible OLCC businesses to renew licenses prior to December 5th, to dodge the LPA requirement for at least another year.
I’ve been bagging on BM 119 since before the vote, when I wrote that it would probably pass and observed that “I’m surprised people aren’t talking about it more.” It did end up passing, which seemed to catch the local cannabis industry flatfooted. Fortunately for the gang, BM 119 is legally suspect and this challenge appears strong.
You don’t have to be anti-union (I’m not) to think BM 119 was poorly conceived. I previously highlighted BM 119’s Constitutional and labor law exposure,
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