Oregon on Friday issued temporary new rules aimed at easing what marijuana producers and processors say is a major backlog that has brought parts of the industry to a standstill, left store shelves empty and prompted some companies to lay off workers.

The rules issued by the Oregon Health Authority ease some potency testing requirements for processors, remove restrictions that unintentionally kept alcohol-based concentrates off the market and allow producers to test multiple strains in a single batch. Previously, each strain had to undergo testing.

The rules cover the medical and recreational marijuana markets.

"The intention was to provide relief," said Andre Ourso, manager of the state's medical marijuana program. "In practice do they do that? We will have to wait and see."

The industry had pushed hard for an overhaul to the state's pesticide testing requirements, the first of their kind in the country, but state officials left them intact for now. The types of pesticides and the levels allowed, for instance, don't change under the revisions, which are in place until next spring.

Since October, 307 samples taken from marijuana products, from flowers to extracts, failed for either pesticides or residual solvents used in the extraction process.

Jeff Rhoades, Gov. Kate Brown's marijuana policy adviser, said his boss "has been clear about the importance of the marijuana industry to Oregon's economy."

"This approach keeps Oregonians employed, prevents marijuana product from slipping back into the illegal market, and continues to protect public health and safety," he said in a statement Friday.

But industry representatives were less than enthusiastic.

Some said the state didn't go far enough. Other said the changes increase their financial and testing burdens.

Trista Okel, whose company Empower Oil, makes topical products, said the revised rules mean she'll have to do even more testing than before. Before the change, she had to test 12 samples in a batch; under the new rules, she said she has to test 32 samples.

She said she plans to consult business advisers on "how to ride this out" and she's exploring licensing agreements in Colorado and Washington, states with legal marijuana programs and what Okel called "reasonable regulations."

Laura Brannan and her husband Hovering Laplante, owners of Elbe's Edibles, said the state decided to cap testing batches at lower levels but keep sample sizes the same, which increased the couple's testing costs.

"We were looking for some relief," said Laplante. "They have done the opposite."

Don Morse, owner of the Human Collective, called the revised rules "a little bit of smoke and mirrors."

"We were hoping for more to alleviate the backlog of testing and we don't see that this really does that," said Morse.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184; @noellecrombie