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Chairman Phil Mendelson Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie 3
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A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 7
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 11
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To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to provide that an 15
applicant that submitted a medical cannabis facility registration application to the 16
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board between November 29, 2021, and March 28, 17
2022, and was selected by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on September 18
28, 2022 shall be allowed to change the location of its cultivation center or retailer 19
facility on its application by September 30, 2023 without otherwise affecting the 20
current status of its application. 21
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RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That 23
this resolution may be cited as the “Medical Cannabis Clarification Emergency 24
Declaration Resolution of 2023”. 25
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Sec. 2. (a) There exists an immediate need to provide that an applicant that 27
submitted a medical cannabis facility registration application to the Alcoholic Beverage 28
Control Board (“ABC Board”) between November 29, 2021, and March 28, 2022 and 29
was selected by the ABC Board on September 28, 2022, be allowed to change the 30
location of its cultivation center or retailer facility without otherwise affecting the current 31
status of its application. 32
(b) As a part of the March 2021 through August 2022 medical cannabis facility 33
licensing round, all medical cannabis facility registration applicants were constrained by 34
a cap on the number of cultivation center and dispensary registrations permitted in each 35
Ward. 36 2
(c) The caps limited an applicant’s ability to secure affordable, appropriate 37
cultivation center and dispensary facilities for their proposed cannabis businesses. The 38
available properties within the permitted Wards were limited and some had issues, such 39
as inadequate power, ADA access, and other issues regarding essential building 40
infrastructure. The applicants were forced to select such facilities when other more 41
appropriate facilities exist in other Wards that would require substantially fewer capital 42
expenditures by the tenants to make the necessary improvements to the facilities. 43
(d) Medical cannabis licenses were conditionally issued to 2 equity impact 44
enterprises who were awarded a total of 2 cultivation center registrations and one 45
dispensary registration by the ABC Board on September 28, 2022 (“enterprises”). 46
(e) The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022, enacted on January 30, 2023 47
(D.C. Act 24-798; 70 DCR ___) (“Act”), removed the caps on the number of cultivation 48
center and retailer (formerly, dispensary) registrations per ward (“cap”). 49
(f) With this change in the law, the enterprises who were awarded licenses on 50
September 28, 2022 must still operate under caps removed by the Act shortly thereafter, 51
putting these businesses at a significant disadvantage as they are unable to obtain more 52
optimal properties that are compliant and available for cultivation center and retailer 53
operations. 54
(g) The Medical Cannabis Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 will 55
remedy this issue and enable the enterprises to have the option to change their cultivation 56
center or retailer location to another compliant property that was previously unavailable 57
to them due to the cap. 58 3
(h) Emergency legislation is to amend the Act, which is projected to become law 59
at the end of March, to allow these enterprises the ability to locate to optimal properties 60
by September 30, 2023, which will enable them to begin operations more quickly and 61
better serve registered patients, as the Act will permit other successful applicants to do. 62
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the 63
circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it 64
necessary that the Medical Cannabis Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 65
be adopted after a single reading. 66
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 67