Lawmakers on Tuesday dropped much-awaited legislation that would establish a board tasked with top-to-bottom regulatory authority over the marijuana industry — a promise made by Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Amid lawsuits over the secrecy of the state’s marijuana business licensing regime, Gov. Steve Sisolak has signed a bill that will dramatically increase the level of transparency in the process.

This session, bills emerged to send proceeds to an education account, authorize limited-purpose banks to handle the marijuana industry’s finances and ease the path forward for consumption lounges. But chief among the nearly 20 cannabis-related bills introduced this session is a forthcoming measure from Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office creating a Cannabis Compliance Board.

Marijuana has risen from ignominy to prominence in the state since lawmakers authorized recreational sales in July 2017. And the plant has also taken a prominent role in the life of Priscilla Vilchis, founder of Premium Produce, a company that grows marijuana not too far from the Las Vegas Strip.

The Paiutes’ ancient migratory route is spotted with housing subdivisions and roads. But where Tso stands on this cool winter afternoon, the tribe is preparing to preserve its economic future with its latest cash crop: cannabis.

As the state faces criticism and lawsuits over its secretive process for licensing marijuana dispensaries, new legislation is calling for the disclosure of the names of business entities that applied and more details about scoring methodology.

It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits since the state announced in early December that it had granted additional licenses, but refused to reveal even the business names of those who won without the winners’ written consent.

State auditors found frequent discrepancies between the amount of sales that are logged into the seed-to-sale tracking software METRC, and those reported on state tax returns. The association, which represents numerous marijuana businesses, did not comment last Thursday at a meeting when the audit was first discussed, but provided a statement to The Nevada Independent about the findings this week.

J. Brin Gibson, Sisolak’s general counsel and chairman of an advisory panel that’s explored marijuana regulatory structures over the past few weeks, said the outline of the proposed bill was submitted on Thursday. A Sisolak executive order calling for more effective marijuana oversight had set a Friday deadline for completing “enabling language for the Legislature’s consideration.”

An audit of the Nevada Department of Taxation found that information reported to the state in tax returns didn’t match information entered into a seed-to-sale tracking software nearly three-quarters of the time. The report also faulted the department for using only a fraction of the money lawmakers allocated to ramp up security in state offices working with the mostly cash industry

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told an industry group Thursday that he supports the creation of marijuana consumption lounges as long as they don’t also include alcohol sales. His comment came as he provided insight from the law enforcement side during a Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association luncheon.

Rep. Mark Amodei has signed on to support legislation that would shield from federal penalties banks that serve the marijuana industry in states such as Nevada where it is legal. He is the last member of the Nevada delegation to back the bill.

Members of an advisory panel tasked with designing a Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board heard last week about the barriers that have left the multibillion-dollar America marijuana industry largely bank-less and — in some cases — literally burying their cash in the ground, pirate-style.

“I'll just admit it — I'm skeptical that you're able to do the kind of investigation and enforcement actions that this kind of privileged license requires," said J. Brin Gibson, chair of the advisory panel that is designing a Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board.

“It’s always been my goal to make this open and transparent as it possibly can be, and that’s what I believe that a Cannabis Compliance Board will do,” Sisolak said. “We’ll make it open, the meetings are going to be public so everybody gets a chance to see what’s happening, the same way the Gaming Control Board is.”

The agency released a list of scores for 457 applications for marijuana dispensary licenses that were received this fall, including those from the 61 applications that won conditional licenses, but is not providing the names attached to the scores unless the dispensary consents. After the department solicited such permission in December, the businesspeople behind only 26 of the applications have granted consent.

The Nevada Department of Taxation is asking marijuana companies to voluntarily let the state reveal whether they were granted a conditional license to open one or more dispensaries and how their application ranked. The move comes after the department received criticism for the secretive nature of the marijuana licensing process.

The lawsuit filed earlier this week in Clark County District Court appears to be the first legal pushback against the Nevada Department of Taxation since the agency awarded more than 60 new conditional dispensary licenses last week.