The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“WSLCB”) announced this Wednesday, January 18, that the 30 day window to apply for a Washington Social Equity In Cannabis Retail License will open March 1, 2023.
The WSLCB will reissue 44 retail licenses to qualified applicants that rank the highest on a points scale to “prioritize” applicants. The licenses will be anchored to specific counties. As a refresher, we’ve been following the developments in Washington’s efforts to add Section 570 to Washington Annotated Code (“WAC”) Title 314-55 from the draft rules and their issues, the final (and unchanged) rule, and the recently released, rather unhelpful Disproportionately Impacted Area (“DIA”) mapping tool.
The license application process will be completed electronically on the WA Department of Revenue’s business licensing system, though it is not currently available on the DOR’s website.
Washington social equity cannabis license eligibility criteria
To qualify for a license and before being ranked according to the point system, an applicant must be a Washington resident, must own at least 51% of each social equity retail business, and the person or persons owning the business must meet at least two of the following qualifications:
- the applicant has lived in a DIA in WA for a minimum of 5 years between 1980 and 2010;
- 申请人或其家庭成员曾因大麻相关罪行被逮捕或定罪；或
- 申请人在提交申请前一年的家庭收入低于华盛顿州的家庭收入中位数。
While it is not listed specifically as a qualification, applicants must also submit a “social equity plan” describing how they will meet social equity goals, “applicant’s personal or family history with the criminal justice system, including any offenses involving cannabis” and a “business plan involving partnerships or assistance to organizations or residents with connections or contributions to populations with a history of high rates of enforcement of cannabis prohibition.” WAC 314-55-570(h)((i).
RCW 69.50.335 defines Social equity goals as “(i) increasing the number of marijuana retailer licenses held by social equity applicants from disproportionately impacted areas; and (ii) reducing accumulated harm suffered by individuals, families, and local areas subject to severe impacts from the historical application and enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws.” Having a social equity plan will impact eligibility and ranking so it is important for applicants to put the time in to create one.
Washington social equity cannabis license scoring rubric
Once found eligible according to the criteria above, applicants are ranked in order of priority based on a scoring system.
| 申请资格要求 | 分数制 |
| 1. 居住在受影响程度过高的地区（DIA） | 40 |
| 1a. 您在DIA居住了多长时间？
5年-10年 = 10分 10年以上 = 20分 |
40 |
| 2. 曾因毒品犯罪被定罪吗？（本人） | 10 |
| 2a. 曾因大麻犯罪被定罪吗？（本人） | 40 |
| 3. 曾因毒品犯罪被定罪吗？（家庭） | 5 |
| 3a. 曾因大麻犯罪被定罪吗？（家庭） | 5 |
| 4. 如果您因大麻相关罪行被定罪，您被判处了何种刑罚：
正确 = 10分 服完缓刑 = 20分 居家隔离 = 40分 曾入狱服刑 = 80分 |
80 |
| 5. 您或您的家人因服刑而无法获得工作吗？ | 5 |
| 6. 您是否因被定罪或被逮捕而失去了住房，或丧失了购房或租房的能力？ | 5 |
| 7. 您的家庭收入是否低于美国人口普查局计算的华盛顿州家庭收入中位数？ | 40 |
| 8. 您是否在2016年7月1日之前拥有或经营过一家持有商业执照的医用大麻销售点或集体种植园（10分）？
或者 您是否曾拥有并经营过一家获得DIA商业许可的医用大麻销售点或集体种植园（30分）？ |
10
直径30毫米 |
| 9. 您是否曾持有或目前持有某家州级大麻（大麻）零售商许可证51%的多数股权/控制权？
“否” = 10分 是 = 0 分 |
10 |
| TOTAL POINTS (out of 310) |
Washington social equity license restrictions
If a license is be granted, there are license restrictions Washington social equity cannabis applicants should know about. The more heavy-handed (and unnecessary) restrictions are:
- 应用程序经审核后，不得更改其所有权；
- 不得在最初签发许可证的县以外地区变更经营地点；
- 许可证签发后的第一年内不得转让或承接，且所有社会公平许可证自批准之日起5年内，仅可转让或承接给符合社会公平计划申请人定义的个人或多人。
These restrictions dramatically reduce the transferability of a social equity license, which are hard to transfer as it is. As we wrote on this issue last year “Many licensees will build their businesses into prosperous enterprises and this rule knee-caps their ability to sell them in the already highly (and unnecessarily) restricted WA market.” The eligibility and ranking criteria have their own issues, but the license restrictions are only going to hurt licensees–the very people the rule is intended to serve.
Still interested?
Applicants who are interested in applying for these licenses can find certain informational materials on the WSLCB website and attend a few upcoming webinars. This process may be made more complex by the possibly of lawsuits being filed to challenge certain aspects of the rule. If that happens, it could freeze or complicate the application process so staying up to date with developments from the WSLCB will be important. As usual, we will also be writing about them here.
需要华盛顿州大麻法律方面的帮助吗？
