Last week (9/13/2020), Herb Wesson held a Zoom meeting to discuss the trajectory of L.A.’s social equity program. Margolin & Lawrence Partner, Raza Lawrence, was in attendance and discusses critical points that were brought up in the meeting.
Herb Wesson, large supporter of the cannabis industry, noted that applicants of the Los Angeles licensing program should constantly interact and maintain contact with neighborhood councils. Establishing a relationship with council members, such as Curren Price and Marqueese Harris Dawson is extremely important and influential in the application process.
Additionally, applicants should actively engage with the details of local and statewide cannabis laws and how they directly affect the applicant and the proposed cannabis business location.
Wesson stated that he will have his office continue research on vetting social equity contracts to protect social equity applicants from being taken advantage of. Raza emphasizes the important on adding clarifying language to this promise as there will like be an organized effort to encourage the Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) to not vet the contracts. Additionally, delivery licenses will soon be issued “in timely fashion” to help all Round 1 Applicants.
As Herb Wesson steps down as city council president to work for the county, he will attempt to put amendments together that he might have to get to a new council member. With Wesson’s support for the cannabis industry, it will important to keep someone with similar principles in offices in order to keep up the momentum for the licensing and social equity program.
CRC meeting – Navigating the new DCR Website
In a recent Cannabis Regulation Commission (CRC) meeting on 9/10/2020, the DCR announced that in the next week it will be overhauling its website and releasing new information and forms relating to the Undue Concentration or PCN Process and relocation of licensed business.
Instructions on how to navigate the new website are below:
“Each menu category on our menu bar contains sub-menus, organizing our information in an easy to understand format. Within the sub-menus you can find individual web pages with specific related information. For instance, under our About menu, you can now find pages to submit media requests, speaking requests, and event requests, as well as a sub-menu dedicated to the Cannabis Regulation Commission.
One of the biggest changes you’ll notice on the website is the update to our Licensing section. The new sub-menus include News & Updates, Licensing Information, and Compliance and Inspection Information.
Under the Licensing Information sub-menu, members of the public can find the General Overview page, Public Participation page, Application Procedures and Resources page, Application Forms and Documents page, Fees & Fines page, our Licensing Map, and an Apply for a License page.
The updated Application Procedures and Resources page and Application Forms and Documents page includes important information for Applicants, including:
We encourage members of the public to review the Application Procedures and Resources page and Application Forms and Documents pages in their entirety and click through the various links to access the information included in our Workflows, Information and Procedures Bulletins, and other documents.”
Here’s a link to the video of the meeting: https://cannabis.lacity.org/resources/cannabis-regulation-commission.
And here is the agenda: https://cannabis.lacity.org/sites/g/files/wph1171/f/09.10.20%20Special%20Agenda%20with%20audio%20links.pdf–
For more information about this post, contact Margolin & Lawrence.
