Staff shake-up at DOH

Jennifer Tschetter, the Department of Health’s General Counsel, will become Secretary John Armstrong’s Chief of Staff at the end of the month. Tschetter was part of the group which crafted regulations for the state medicinal marijuana law that an administrative judge ruled invalid.

The proposal came under fire for, among other things, including a lottery in the licensing selection process. Lawmakers directed DOH to have a regulatory structure in place by January 1, 2015. A proposed rule to allow the cultivation of marijuana and the dispensing of a cannabis product is currently in a 21-day public comment period.

Tschetter explained the agency’s reasoning for including a random selection process in place of measurable criteria to guide awarding of licenses during the court case challenging the rule. She testified that the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014 created more interest than opportunity – lawmakers authorizing just five licenses – and the department believed it would be difficult to successfully challenge a random selection process.

“The difficulty in selecting something that’s necessarily better, when they’re just different, made the scorecard – an elaborate scorecard – something that seemed like an impossibility to the agency,” said Tschetter.

Patient advocates argued a lottery was not appropriate to select the manufacturer and distributor of medicine. An administrative law judge directed the department to find a way to include measurable criteria in awarding the licenses.

“Within the boundaries of the rules, she had a very difficult task,” said Louis Rotundo who lobbies for local governments and marijuana interests. “But I am extremely pleased how far the rule has come in the past few weeks.”

Tschetter has been with the department since 2008. She worked as legal counsel for 11 county health departments and was appointed the department’s general counsel in 2012.

“Jennifer Tschetter brings signifcant managerial expertise, honed within the state and county health offices, to promote best organizational practices,” said Armstrong in a prepared statement announcing the appointment.

Deputy General Counsel Danny Hernandez will serve as interim-General Counsel for the time being. Armstrong also announced Tuesday that Kim Barnhill has been named Deputy Secretary for County Health Systems.