Sonoma County Approves First Round of Cannabis Equity Grants
By Lauren Mendelsohn
May 10, 2024
Sonoma County recently approved its first round of grants under its local cannabis equity program, totaling $635,000 to 20 approved equity grant applicants. This comes after Sonoma County received a $687,561 grant from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) in March 2023 for the purpose of assisting local equity applicants and operators. The $52,561 that will not be issued to applicants/operators will be used by the County for associated administrative costs. (You can learn more about GO-Biz’s Cannabis Equity Grants for Local Jurisdictions program here.)
This first round of grant qualification run by Sonoma County was unique in that it was open to applicants not only from the unincorporated parts of the County, but also to applicants from any of the nine incorporated cities/towns within Sonoma County (Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Windsor, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, and Cotati). The City of Santa Rosa, which is where the majority of cannabis businesses in Sonoma County are located, is in the process of developing its own cannabis equity program (which we previously discussed here) and received a grant of $75,000 in March 2022 for the purposes of equity program development, while the other eight incorporated cities/towns do not currently have a cannabis equity program.
According to County staff, the reason for opening the County’s grant application to those in the cities/towns was low participation from the unincorporated County, which we surmise was due to a combination of technical difficulties completing the application as well as more stringent qualification requirements than many other cannabis equity programs. Specifically, to qualify for Sonoma County’s cannabis equity program, an applicant (or their parent, sibling, spouse, child, or a guardian/member of immediate household) must have been arrested and/or convicted for a non-violent cannabis-related crime or have been subject to asset forfeiture because of a cannabis-related offense between 1971 and 2016. Additional criteria are then applied to the qualified applicants to prioritize how the available funding should be distributed.
Unlike some other local cannabis equity programs and the State’s equity fee relief program run by the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), individuals apply to be qualified for and receive grants through Sonoma County’s equity program as an individual rather than as a business. Furthermore, one does not need to have a local permit or state license to be eligible for equity standing or funding in Sonoma County, since grant funding could be used for the purposes of helping a recipient obtain a license.
As we’ve discussed previously, in 2018 the State legislature adopted Senate Bill 1294, known as the California Cannabis Equity Act (the “Act”), the intent of which was “to ensure that persons most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty be offered assistance to enter the multibillion dollar cannabis industry as entrepreneurs or as employees with high quality, well-paying jobs,” and to ensure that “the cannabis industry be representative of the state’s population, and that barriers to entering the industry are reduced through support to localities that have created local equity programs in their jurisdictions.” SB 1294 §§2(f), (g). The Act added Chapter 23 (commencing with Section 26240) to Division 10 of the Business and Professions Code, which describes how jurisdictions can establish local equity programs to provide technical assistance, small business support, and other services to local equity applicants and licensees. Bus. & Prof. Code §26240. The Act also states that local jurisdictions can apply to the state for grant funding to assist with development or implementation of their respective cannabis equity programs. Bus. & Prof. Code §26244.
Sonoma County was not selected to receive another Type 2 grant from the State’s GoBiz program in their latest selection round, but indicated that they plan to apply again during the next cycle so that they can continue providing equity funding at the local level. In the meantime, the window to become a locally-verified cannabis equity applicant/operator in Sonoma County remains open, so individuals who think they might qualify would be wise to do so early in order to get in line for the next round of grants.
Our office was involved with the development of Sonoma County’s cannabis equity program (which we’ve discussed here and here), and have successfully helped cannabis clients apply for equity status and equity grant funding in Sonoma County and elsewhere across the state. Our attorneys have also helped several clients apply for the DCC’s equity fee relief program. We look forward to continuing to promote equity in the cannabis industry, as we believe it is critical to remove barriers to entry for people who suffered greatest from prohibition.
This information is provided as a public educational service and is not intended, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For specific questions regarding cannabis equity programs in California, contact the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa at 707-829-0215 or info@omarfigueroa.com to schedule a confidential legal consultation.