The House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade opened a public hearing Monday on Senate Bill 870, a proposal to exempt the residential addresses and personal phone numbers of people who hold permits to work in the cannabis industry from public-records disclosure. The committee opened the hearing at the start of its April 21 meeting and closed it after testimony and questions.

The bill was presented by Craig Prinz, executive director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), who said the exemption is intended to protect employees after a “raft of robberies and burglaries” at licensed cannabis premises and instances where permit-holder contact information has been produced through public-records requests. “This bill ... exempts the personal information, meaning the residential address and personal phone number of folks who hold a permit to work in the cannabis industry,” Prinz said. He added that premises-level information for licensees is already exempt and that the change would extend similar safety protections to permit holders.

Committee members asked how the issue arose and how narrowly the exemption would apply. Chair Winn and Rep. Deal pressed for context; Prinz said the problem surfaced when the OLCC received a public-records request for worker contact information and that the agency is proposing a targeted exemption limited to permit holders regulated under the cannabis statute (cited in the bill as ORS 475C.273). He said the request that prompted concern appeared to come from a labor organization seeking to contact workers about organizing but that the OLCC’s focus is preventing misuse of the information by parties with harmful intent. Prinz said the exemption would still allow disclosure to law enforcement when appropriate, as specified in the bill.

Several members raised policy trade-offs between privacy and openness. Rep. Osborne asked whether similar protections should extend to other workers who might be vulnerable, such as those at abortion clinics or banks; Rep. Osborne said the bill “opens up a precedence” for other exemptions. Prinz and other committee members agreed the bill was intentionally narrow to address risks specific to cannabis permit holders, particularly because many cannabis businesses handle large amounts of cash and have experienced thefts. “We wanted to keep it limited to what we know and what we can see at the OLCC,” Prinz said.

No committee action (motion or vote) was taken at the hearing. The public hearing was opened and closed during the meeting; further committee steps (amendment, referral or vote) were not recorded in the transcript.

Ending: The committee closed the public hearing on Senate Bill 870 and immediately opened a hearing on another bill (Senate Bill 871) later in the same session. The transcript does not record a committee vote or final action on SB 870 during this meeting.