Assigned to NR FOR COMMITTEE
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1713
marijuana; dual licensees; rural communities
Purpose
Requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to adopt rules establishing a rural
opportunity initiative and to issue marijuana establishment licenses and nonprofit medical
dispensary registration certificates to entities that are qualified pursuant to the rural opportunity
initiative. Contains requirements for enactment for initiatives and referendums (Proposition 105).
Background
In 2010, Arizona voters approved the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act to establish a
regulatory system, overseen by DHS, that allows a dispensary to dispense a permissible amount
of medical marijuana to a qualifying patient or the qualifying patient's designated caregiver (A.R.S.
Title 36, Chapter 28.1). In 2020, Arizona voters approved the Smart and Safe Arizona Act which
legalized the sale and use of recreational marijuana to Arizonans who are at least 21 years of age
(A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 28.2).
Current statute requires DHS to adopt rules to implement, enforce and regulate marijuana,
marijuana products, marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities that include
requirements for licensing marijuana establishments. DHS may only issue one marijuana
establishment license for every 10 registered pharmacies that have obtained a pharmacy permit from
the Arizona Board of Pharmacy and that operate within Arizona. DHS may also only issue a
marijuana establishment license to two marijuana establishments per county that have no registered
nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries, or one marijuana establishment license per county that
has one registered nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary. Licenses issued by DHS to marijuana
establishments and marijuana testing facilities are valid for two years (A.R.S. ยง 36-2854).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires DHS to adopt rules to implement, enforce and regulate marijuana, marijuana products
and marijuana establishments that include establishing and implementing a rural opportunity
initiative to create tax revenue and economic opportunities for rural communities.
2. Requires DHS to issue marijuana establishment licenses and nonprofit medical marijuana
dispensary registration certificates to entities that are qualified pursuant to the rural opportunity
initiative. FACT SHEET
S.B. 1713
Page 2
3. Requires the marijuana establishment licenses and the nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary
registration certificates to be for a fixed community that has not opted out of the rural
opportunity initiative.
4. Allows a dual licensee's retail site to be relocated only to an unserved rural community in
accordance with the rural opportunity initiative.
5. Requires DHS, by July 1, 2026, to adopt rules establishing a rural opportunity initiative.
6. Requires DHS, by August 1, 2026, to post on its website a form that allows unserved rural
communities to communicate to DHS the community's intention to opt out of participation in
the rural opportunity initiative.
7. Allows a county to opt out of participation on behalf of census-designated areas in the county,
not including cities or towns.
8. Allows an unserved rural community to withdraw its opt-out form at any time.
9. Requires DHS, by October 1, 2026, to post and maintain on its public website, a current list of
unserved rural communities that have opted out of the rural opportunity initiative.
10. Requires DHS, beginning October 1, 2026, to accept applications for marijuana establishment
licenses and nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificates from qualified
applicants.
11. Requires DHS, within 60 days after receiving the first application from a qualified applicant
that seeks to serve a specific unserved rural community, to award and allocate a marijuana
establishment license and a nonprofit medical dispensary registration certificate to the qualified
applicant that first applies to serve the unserved rural community.
12. Requires an applicant, to qualify for a license pursuant to the rural opportunity initiative, to
complete and submit a DHS-approved form or forms showing that the applicant has a
landowner's consent to use property in the eligible unserved rural community for a marijuana
retail site and a DHS-approved form or forms showing the property is in compliance with local
zoning restrictions applicable to where a dual licensee may be located.
13. Prohibits a landowner from executing or agreeing to execute multiple landowner consent forms
concerning the same property address for the rural opportunity initiative.
14. Stipulates that the landowner consent form executed first in time is the only valid landowner
consent form.
15. Stipulates that entities that become a dual licensee:
a) must be licensed by DHS to operate only one retail location and one off-site location at
which the dual licensee may cultivate marihuana and manufacture marijuana products;
b) may operate an offsite location only at a property where cultivation operations were
conducted pursuant to DHS's approval for at least one day during the 18 months
immediately preceding a dual licensee's date of application to operate at the off-site
cultivation location; and
c) are not required to operate the dual licensee's retail site for more than 24 hours each week. FACT SHEET
S.B. 1713
Page 3
16. Allows any entity that becomes a dual licensee to move its retail site only to another unserved
rural community that has not opted out of the rural opportunity initiative.
17. Defines unserved rural community as a city, town or census-designated area that has a
population of fewer than 50,000 persons and contains one or more parcels of property that are
at least 25 miles from a marijuana retail site, as measured from the closest points of both
properties.
18. Makes conforming changes.
19. Requires for the enactment the affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the members of each
house of the Legislature (Proposition 105).
20. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 17, 2025
SB/slp