The Social Equity Council has approved the final steps for its application review process as it prepares to begin handing out business licenses as early as next month.
The lottery application window for the last of eight cannabis license types closed last week, meaning all submissions are with the state and will be entered into the lottery. Applicants that are selected through the lottery will be forwarded to national accounting firm CohnReznick, which has been hired by the state to review submitted paperwork to ensure business applications meet proper standards set out by the recreational marijuana law.
During the group’s June 7 meeting, following an executive session, the Social Equity Council approved its process for evaluating social equity applicants following that third party lottery selection process.
Here’s how the process will work: CohnReznick will first review social equity applications to determine whether they meet criteria or not. The firm will send an application determination report to SEC Executive Director Ginne-Rae Clay for each submission, which will include details such as what criteria was or was not met, why, and a recommendation for license approval or denial. CohnReznick will use an income calculator as part of its eligibility checklist.
Biweekly, CohnReznick will send a summary determination report to Clay that includes how many applications the firm has reviewed so far and the number that did and did not meet the criteria.
Clay will then send these reports to other members of the SEC for questions or comments.
Next, Clay will schedule a special SEC meeting to vote on the current round of applications. Those meetings are expected to take place every two weeks as more determination reports are finished by CohnReznick.
Upon a favorable vote by the SEC, social equity applicants that win approval will be notified and receive a letter from Clay confirming their social equity status. Those whose applications are denied will be told why and given details about how to apply for the general lottery.
SEC Chair Andrea Comer said during the June 7 meeting that disproportionately impacted area cultivator license recommendations will be presented to the council for a vote during the group’s July meeting, and she indicated that other provisional licenses might be doled out, too, based on the review process. Just 56 total licenses across eight business types will be given out in the first round of lotteries, evenly split between social equity and general applications.
Officials from the state Department of Consumer Protection said the plan is to have another lottery round in the second half of the year.
