How we report regulatory actions

Every update in our regulatory actions feed follows the same steps: an official source, a dated summary, an impact rating and a person who approves it before it goes live.

What counts as an action

An action is something a regulator, legislature or court did that changes, or may soon change, what a cannabis or hemp business can do. That covers proposed and final rules, enforcement, guidance, board agendas and meeting outcomes, federal actions and changes to a legal status. We track states, territories, countries and federal agencies.

Sources

Each action links to the official document it comes from: a regulator or agency page, a register or code, a bill record or a court filing. We do not publish an action that rests only on news coverage or a press release from a private group. Before we describe a rule as in effect, we confirm its rule number and effective date on the source.

What you see for free

Every action page shows the headline, four sentences on what happened, the date, the type of action, the impact rating and the source link. Members also get the full write-up, the analysis, the deadlines and the reasoning behind the impact rating.

How we rate impact

High: a legal status or effective date changes within 90 days, or a ban or license condition is final.

Medium: proposed rules, agendas with a cannabis or hemp item, and open comment windows.

Low: guidance, letters and advocacy.

Who approves each update

Our monitor checks official sources on a schedule. Drafts are prepared from the source document with software, including AI, and an editor reads the source and approves every action before it publishes. Nothing goes live without that approval.

Corrections

When a source changes or we get something wrong, we update the same page and its updated date changes. If an action should not have run, we take it down. To report an error, use the contact page.

Regulatory journalism, not legal advice. Read the source document and check with counsel before acting.