Governance and independence

The Cannabis Health & Safety Alliance is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. The rules on this page are drafts. They are not in force until our board adopts them.

The number of recusals each year will be published in our annual report.

An independent director has had, in the past 3 years, no job, office, board seat, ownership, loan, consulting or contractor relationship with a cannabis or hemp licensee, a business that mainly serves licensees, a testing lab, or a cannabis trade association. The same goes for their immediate family. They get no pay from CHSA beyond reasonable expenses.

1. B-1

   Enough directors to act independently

   The board is large enough that, when affiliated directors step out, independent directors can still make up a quorum.

2. B-2

   Independent majority

   Independent directors are always a majority of the board.

3. B-3

   Affiliated seats are capped

   The bylaws cap how many directors may be affiliated with a cannabis business. Affiliated directors may never chair the board, or the editorial, audit and finance, or governance and conflict-of-interest committees.

4. B-4

   Interested persons stay a minority

   People CHSA has paid in the past 12 months, and their relatives, are no more than 49% of the board, as California law requires. Paid staff on the board count toward this limit.

5. B-5

   Rules live in the bylaws

   These board rules go into CHSA’s bylaws, not only into a policy that can be changed quietly.

Directors and staff with ties to a cannabis business leave the room and do not vote on:

• Anything involving a cannabis business they are tied to, its brands, its suppliers or its direct competitors
• Safety alerts, recalls and Verify content about any California licensee
• Local decisions on whether to allow cannabis stores
• CHSA positions on state cannabis rules that affect retailers
• Waivers of our funding limits
• Hiring, paying or reviewing the executive director
• Any deal between CHSA and a director or a director’s business

Board minutes record each recusal.

• CHSA never supports or opposes candidates for public office.
• CHSA will not campaign for or against local decisions on whether to allow cannabis stores. If invited, it may give neutral, sourced public-health testimony.
• Any lobbying, including campaigns that ask people to contact lawmakers, is tracked and reported as the law requires.
• Policy positions are labeled “CHSA position” and kept apart from neutral education.