President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is an investor in a licensed cannabis business in Oregon, according to federal financial disclosures.
Chavez-DeRemer, who served as a Republican House representative from 2023 to 2025, owns at least a 10% stake in SJJD Consulting in Multnomah County, Ore. According to her public financial disclosure report filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Jan. 7, the value of her investment is between $1 million and $5 million.
Trump nominated Chavez-DeRemer in November. Her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is scheduled for Feb. 19.
While serving in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer was a supporter of descheduling marijuana and co-sponsored cannabis reform bills such as the STATES Act 2.0 to end prohibition, the PREPARE Act, which would have created a commission to study the federal regulation of cannabis, the HOPE Act, which would have provided grants to states and local governments to expunge cannabis-related convictions, and the House version of the SAFE Banking Act.
SJJD Consulting operates as cultivator Meraki Gardens
SJJD Consulting has three active licenses in Oregon for cultivation, wholesale/distribution and manufacturing/processing, according to the CRB Monitor database. The primary operating business of SJJD Consulting is Meraki Gardens, a women-owned, family operated, organic cultivator in Portland. There are three other aliases in the company’s record.
In her Jan. 24 ethics agreement, Chavez-DeRemer said she will divest of her interests in a couple of entities but will retain her unpaid position in Rip City Properties LLC, which appears to hold the passive interest in SJJD Consulting according to a 2024 House of Representatives Financial Disclosure Report.
“I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interest of Rip City Properties LLC, or its underlying holdings, unless I first obtain a written waiver,” pursuant to government code, she wrote in the ethics agreement.
According to her ethics financial report, she earns no, or less than $201, income from SJJD Consulting. But the House report says she earns between $15,001 and $50,000 in partnership income.
Another investor in SJJD Consulting referred CRB Monitor News to the primary owner Stacie Jenkins, who did not respond to emailed questions before deadline.
DOL had started to support cannabis worker safety
Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination may face opposition from conservative Republicans for her support of labor unions. A daughter of a Teamsters member, she received strong support from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, as well as the U.S. Minority Chamber of Commerce.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien pushed Trump to nominate Chavez-DeRemer, according to Politico. Notably, the Teamsters did not endorse a presidential candidate last year.
“Working people need someone with her experience leading the agency that is tasked with protecting workers, creating good union jobs, and rebuilding our nation’s middle class. The Teamsters are grateful to President Trump for putting American workers first by nominating Rep. Chavez-DeRemer to this important role,” O’Brien said in a Feb. 11 press release.
Many cannabis retail and manufacturing workers have been joining unions, often with the Teamsters or United Food & Commercial Workers. Some states require licensed businesses to sign labor peace agreements with labor organizations.
However, cannabis cultivators, as agriculture workers, do not have the same protections to organize as other industries under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act.
Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Labor was beginning to promote cannabis worker safety despite marijuana being federally illegal. Last year, the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an instructional program for marijuana and hemp businesses served by the Englewood and Denver area offices in Colorado.
“The purpose of this Instruction is to implement a Local Emphasis Program (LEP) to reduce the incidence of serious health and physical injury or death from hazards associated with cannabis processing, growing, cultivating and product manufacturing facilities,” said an OSHA notice.
Given the Trump Administration’s current push to dismantle regulatory agencies considered to be progressive, it’s unclear if Chavez-DeRemer would support cannabis labor causes if she is confirmed by the Senate.
“Lori Chavez-DeRemer has built a pro-labor record in Congress, including as one of only three Republicans to cosponsor the Protecting The Right To Organize (PRO) Act and one of eight Republicans to cosponsor the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a Nov. 22 statement.
“But Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States—not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer—and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.”
