September 25, 2020
Santa Barbara County supervisors disagree with most of critical grand jury report on cannabis
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors disagreed, in whole or in part, to all but two of the 12 findings in a highly critical grand jury report on cannabis regulation and said only one of the report’s 19 recommendations would be implemented. Although 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann took issue with the reply to Finding 11, she agreed with the overall response to the report as recommended by staff and joined in the unanimous vote approving it. Finding 11 essentially said odor has not been controlled at cannabis cultivation boundaries, leading to a significant public outcry about odor, quality of life and health. The board partially disagreed with that. While acknowledging odor control has been a challenge in regulating cannabis, the board’s response said permitting and business licensing processes come with stringent requirements for odor control. It also said business licenses mandate annual reviews, and a significant portion of those will consider odor control compliance. “There are, to my knowledge, no odor control requirements on AG-2 properties,” Hartmann asserted. “[The response] implies there are odor control requirements across the board.” Planning and Development Department Director Lisa Plowman agreed odor control is not required on properties zoned Agriculture 2 and said her staff will work with the County Executive Office to clarify odor control requirements in the response. The board said it will not implement the recommendation that unpermitted cannabis cultivation be suspended until operators prove odor is controlled at the property line because that action is not warranted. “I still believe technology will eventually improve this situation,” 1st District Supervisor Das Williams said. Findings 6 and 7, which both criticized using affidavits to certify legal nonconforming use status without requiring proof, were the only two the board agreed with.But the response said the accompanying recommendations — suspending unpermitted legal nonconforming operations pending proof of prior cultivation — were unreasonable and would not be implemented. The boardpartially disagreed with Finding 9 that the county treasurer/tax collector “was not included in the creation of the tax portions of the cannabis ordinance,” noting the treasurer concurred with two board letters on cannabis taxes. But it said the treasurer would be involved in creating any future tax-related ordinances. Of eight people who spoke during public comment, three with industry connections supported supervisors for “choosing facts over emotion,” saying the grand jury report didn’t reflect the process and was written from the viewpoint that cannabis should not be legal. The rest supported the grand jury’s “exhaustive investigation” and “thoughtful recommendations” and criticized the board using some of the report’s assertions, including that the board granted unfettered access to cannabis lobbyists, developed ordinances outside public scrutiny, allowed the industry to operate unchecked, failed to control odor and permitted an excessive number of cannabis operations. Responding to the comments, 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said representatives of the cannabis industry had no more access than anyone else.
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September 25, 2020
State ballot measures to legalize cannabis could add $9 billion to US marijuana market
Despite a delay in the U.S. House of Representatives vote for a bill that would seek to legalize cannabis at the national level, the legal cannabis market in the U.S. still stands to substantially grow as more states plan to let voters decide whether they want to legalize it. According to a new report from cannabis market firm New Frontier Data, state ballot measures slated for 2020 in five states — Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota — could be the green light for adding $9 billion dollars to the size of the nation’s legal cannabis market if all are approved by voters this November. “The 2020 election could be one of the most consequential and historical events to change the landscape of the legal U.S cannabis industry,” New Frontier Data CEO Giadha DeCarcer said in a release. “With $9 billion in new revenue from 2022-2025, should all five states ballot measures pass, New Frontier Data estimates that revenues from all legal U.S. markets will reach $35.1B in 2025.” In a way, the upcoming state votes could have a more immediate impact on legal cannabis in the U.S. than even the delayed House vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act would have since it’s not expected to be taken up as long as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remains atop the Republican-controlled chamber. In Arizona, Proposition 207 would legalize recreational adult-use in the state in non-public places. With an estimated 1.2 million cannabis consumers in the state, New Frontier Data estimates that annual revenues for legal adult-use cannabis will exceed $1 billion in Arizona by 2024 if the proposition passes. Polling remains close, however, with only 51% support at last clip — roughly in-line with where support was when a similar initiative failed in 2016. In New Jersey, potentially the largest new state market if voters approve the similar ballot initiative there, annual sales of legal adult-use cannabis could reach $1.8 billion by 2024, according to New Frontier Data. The state would become the first Mid-Atlantic state to approve recreational cannabis and could draw significant demand from neighboring states. The latest polling on the ballot initiative shows nearly two-thirds of likely voters approve of legalizing cannabis. And in a sign of the times, even South Dakota is looking poised to approve legal cannabis use in some form — whether it be medical or recreational — through two separate ballot measures that both appear poised to pass. With an estimated 97,429 current cannabis consumers in the state, New Frontier Data estimates that annual sales of legal adult-use cannabis in South Dakota will exceed $122 million by their fourth year. Whether or not all state measures, past momentum at the federal level has clearly mounted. As Cowen Managing Director Vivien Azer recently noted, “it was inconceivable four years ago that the House would vote to legalize cannabis. The safe position for a Democrat in 2016 was to oppose legalization. Today it is to support legalization.” As odds of Democrats retaking control of the Senate rise, so too do the odds of cannabis legalization at the federal level. As Curaleaf CEO Joe Lusardi told Yahoo Finance earlier this year, Democrats taking the Senate could set up a quick move to legalize marijuana at the federal level even if President Trump wins re-election.
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September 25, 2020
Borough Pushes For Increased Tobacco Tax
Tobacco products are still on track to become more expensive in Kodiak, as the Kodiak Island Borough has been discussing the idea of raising the excise tax on tobacco for the past several months.
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September 25, 2020
Missouri’s Tobacco Tax Is Still The Country’s Lowest, Something That Won’t Soon Change
The state imposes a 17-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes — the lowest in the nation — just a fraction of the $2.98 rate charged across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Missouri’s rate likely won’t change any time soon. Voters in 2016 rejected competing ballot questions that would have raised the tobacco tax.
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September 25, 2020
New Budget Deal Kills Murphy Plans To Raise N.J. Taxes On Cigarettes, Firearms But Hits Corporations, Millionaires
Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow Democrats who lead the New Jersey Legislature have agreed on a state budget deal that raises taxes on high-income earners and HMOs while extending a 2.5-percentage point surtax on corporations with over $1 million in income.
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September 25, 2020
Oregon Boosts Cannabis Tax Revenue Forecast Another $31M
It’s not the main reason Oregon’s budget future is shaping up better than expected, but data and forecasts released Wednesday show the positive effect of a large and sustained increase in cannabis sales since Covid-19 hit.
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September 25, 2020
Vermont House OKs Deal On Bill To Allow Marijuana Sale, Tax
The Vermont House of Representatives has approved a deal on a bill that would allow for the legal sale of marijuana, as well as taxation on those sales. The legislative conference committee report passed the House by a vote of 92-56 on Thursday, the Bennington Banner reported. It now heads to the state Senate, where a vote is expected next week.
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September 24, 2020
West Virginia House Candidates Pledge To Bring ‘Nation’s Strongest Cannabis Bill’ If Elected
Standing before a field of thigh-high hemp plants last week, a pair of candidates running for seats in the West Virginia House of Delegates previewed a marijuana legalization bill they plan to introduce if elected in November. Rusty Williams and Chris Yeager, Democrats running in West Virginia House Districts 35 and 14, respectively, announced the planned legislation, titled “The Normalization of Cannabis Act,” in a video streamed Friday on Facebook from Yeager’s hemp farm in Mason County. “I think that this bill is a great draft,” said Yeager, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and owner of Appalachian Cannabis Co., which makes products from CBD derived from his farm’s hemp. “It gives us a starting point.” The proposal is being supported by WV Can’t Wait, a political advocacy group that asks candidates to sign a pledge to reject corporate campaign donations and sign on to an array of policy positions, including broadband internet for all, infrastructure investment, small-business support, a workers bill of rights and “full cannabis legalization.” Williams, who became involved in medical marijuana legalization efforts after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, according to his campaign website, helped successfully advocate for the state’s medical cannabis bill, signed into law in 2017. He described his new proposal in Friday’s video as “the first piece of comprehensive cannabis legislation that we intend to introduce should we both be fortunate enough to win in November.” A copy of the draft bill wasn’t immediately provided by WV Can’t Wait organizers, who instead pointed Marijuana Moment to a bulleted list of provisions, included in full at the end of this article. “People hear the term ‘comprehensive cannabis’ and want to know what that means,” Williams said on the live stream. “What that means is this bill will decriminalize the cultivation, production and personal use of cannabis for all West Virginia adults over 21.” Under the proposal, all adults 21 and over could grow up to 12 cannabis plants for personal use. While the bill would establish a “framework for taxation of commercial sales,” the candidates stressed that big business isn’t their goal. Instead, the proposal would allow so-called micro permits, which would license small, vertically integrated marijuana businesses. “One of the major criticisms we’ve had with the Medical Cannabis Act is that the entire industry was going to be run by ten companies,” Williams said. “When we end prohibition, we have got to make sure that we clear a path for small businesses and small farmers to get into the game and participate in this industry, and that’s exactly what micro permitting will do.” Permits would be discounted 50 percent to applicants convicted of past nonviolent cannabis crimes, Williams said, “as a means of restorative justice. I can’t stress it enough, here in West Virginia we have got a lot of wrongs to right when it comes to cannabis.” The prospective bill would also expunge the records of nonviolent cannabis convictions dating back to 1937, when prohibition first began, Williams said. “Not only will we release people from jail who are wrongfully incarcerated for possessing or using a plant, but this bill also provides for transitional services for people released, so we can help them with schooling, education, housing, anything that we can help them with to get them back into society, which is where they should be in the first place,” he said.
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September 24, 2020
Cannabis dispensary applicants getting a second chance for social equity licenses
Fairness in cannabis - that has always been the goal with legalized recreational marijuana in Illinois. The social equity portion of the state's law is aimed at bringing stronger diversity to the industry. However, many feel the cannabis dispensary lottery wasn't fair with only 21 groups initially moving forward for 75 licenses. 937 groups sent in nearly 2,600 applications combined. Gov. JB Pritzker went back to the drawing board with members of his administration to find a solution for hundreds of applicants who lost out earlier this month. Those groups will soon get a second chance to apply for licenses. "As governor, I'm not interested in protecting a process that people are afraid to trust," Pritzker said Tuesday. "I'm interested in doing everything we can to advance the priority we all share, and that's fairness." Social equity applicants who failed to hit a perfect score (252 points) during the initial process will receive a deficiency notice explaining why they lost points. They can then submit revised applications or ask the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to rescore their documents in case of errors. "This was never about the first round, the first year, or the next election. This is about the next generation," said Toi Hutchinson, Pritzker's Senior Cannabis Advisor. "That's why I'm so proud to stand with Gov. Pritzker and the entire administration to see this through." Getting it right: The cannabis law requires IDFPR to evaluate the marketplace after the first 75 licenses are awarded. Pritzker said this could help bring new ideas to the General Assembly to improve equity and inclusion in the industry. "We want to make sure we get this right from the outset," Pritzker added. "The more costly thing, of course, would be getting it wrong and awarding licenses in a way that's not fair, and ending up with an industry that's not truly diverse." Even with the second shot at a license, many will come out empty-handed. As written in the law, the Pritzker administration can only give out 75 licenses before December 31. However, Hutchinson says more opportunities will sprout this year. "Whether or not you own the dispensary or you own the cultivation center, there are all kinds of vendors that go into each dispensary. There's supply chain," Hutchinson explained. "There's all different kinds of ways that this industry is going to grow with a population of people who now see a place for themselves in it." Applicants will have 10 days to respond to the deficiency notices from the administration. Pritzker hopes the lottery process will wrap up later this fall. "We do not want a world where people who absolutely earned points that they should have received are denied those points," Hutchinson added. "So, we're going to take our time to make sure that this is as thorough, and equitable, and fair as we possibly can make it."
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September 24, 2020
Marijuana Businesses Could Get Federal Disaster Relief Funds Under New Congressional Bill
Marijuana businesses impacted by recent natural disasters or that have experienced financial distress due to the coronavirus pandemic would be eligible for federal relief programs under new legislation introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate on Thursday. Because cannabis remains federally prohibited, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has explicitly denied the industry—and businesses that work indirectly with it—access to its relief programs like other markets. That means, for example, marijuana farmers in states like California and Oregon that have seen their crops destroyed by wildfires are fully dependent on state and local assistance. The new Small Business Disaster Relief Equity Act would resolve that problem, stipulating that disaster- or COVID-related services, grants, loans and tax benefits that are made available through federal agencies or congressional legislation cannot be denied to cannabis businesses solely because of the nature of their work, as long as it is in compliance with state law. What’s more, the bill states that the the heads of federal agencies that administer disaster relief such as SBA “shall, to the greatest extent practicable, allow State-legal cannabis businesses to retroactively apply for such disaster assistance.” Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) filed the companion bills. “Cannabis businesses in Oregon hurt by the blazing wildfires or any other disaster shouldn’t be shut out from federal relief simply because the federal government is stuck in yesteryear,” Wyden said in a press release. “These legal small businesses employ thousands of workers and support our struggling economy. If they need federal support, they should get it. Full stop.” SBA recently confirmed to Marijuana Moment that while it opened a disaster relief loan program for Oregon businesses damaged or destroyed by the wildfires, the cannabis industry isn’t eligible. People working in the state-legal market whose primary residences were impacted could still apply, however, but not if they conduct their business from home.
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