New State Grant Program Seeks to Increase Retail Access
By Lauren Mendelsohn and Omar Figueroa
March 1, 2023
Last month, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) announced a new grant program designed to increase access to licensed retail facilities statewide. The Local Jurisdiction Retail Access Grant program will provide up to $20 million to California cities and counties that currently prohibit retail cannabis uses in order to support them amending their codes to allow this use. We recently touched on this new grant program as part of our discussion of Senate Bill 1186, a new state law that prohibits local jurisdictions from banning medical cannabis delivery businesses (or else face penalties) beginning on January 1, 2024.
Nearly 2/3 of California’s cities and counties currently prohibit regulated cannabis retailers from operating in their borders, meaning that many consumers either have to travel far to obtain cannabis legally or acquire it from unlicensed operators. (The DCC has created a useful tool you can use to see where different types of businesses are allowed, which illustrates how much of the state is still a cannabis “desert.”) The Local Jurisdiction Retail Access Grant program was created to create safe access for consumers in these areas as well as to combat illicit market. Furthermore, more retail outlets will mean more cannabis tax revenue for the State, which has been steadily declining over past quarters.
Twenty million dollars will be available to eligible local jurisdictions, which will be distributed in two phases consisting of ten million dollars each. The grant application window opens on March 10, 2023. Phase I applications are due by April 28, 2023, with funding awarded by June 20, 2023, and Phase II funding will become available after June 30, 2023. Funding can be used for things like staffing costs, environmental review, application processing, and support for equity applicants and businesses.
The Grant Guidelines provide examples of qualifying local jurisdictions. This includes not only local jurisdictions that have passed complete bans on all commercial cannabis activity but also local jurisdictions that have passed local ordinances to allow retail cannabis businesses but have not yet begun accepting permit applications:
These examples also make clear that cities and counties are separate for purposes of cannabis regulation and retail access grant funding, so that a county that prohibits the establishment of cannabis retailers within the unincorporated area of the county is eligible for grant funding, event if incorporated cities within that county already permit cannabis retailers. Similarly, a city that currently prohibits the establishment of cannabis retailers within city limits is eligible for grant funding, event if that city is located within a county that already permit cannabis retailers.
The Local Jurisdiction Retail Access Grant program web site identifies counties (and cities in those counties) which will receive priority review should they apply for a grant and implement a permitting program. The priority review local jurisdictions include Amador County, Butte County, Contra Costa County, Fresno County, Glenn County, Kern County, Lassen County, Madera County, Orange County, Placer County, San Benito County, San Diego County, San Joaquin County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Sutter County, Tehama County, and Yuba County, as well as all cities in those 18 counties.
The Grant Guidelines are below and can also be downloaded here.
retail-access-grant_grant-guidelinesStay tuned for further updates on this topic.
This information is provided as a public educational service and is not intended as legal advice. For specific questions regarding the Local Jurisdiction Retail Access Grant program or other cannabis-related laws, please contact the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa at 707-829-0215 or info@omarfigueroa.com to schedule a confidential legal consultation.