Like previous versions of the recreational bill, this one aims to set aside 25 percent of licenses to businesses owned by women, minorities or veterans. The big difference in this bill is that the 25 percent is a mandate, rather than a goal.
The bill would create an office of business development for women, minorities and disabled veterans and the goal of that office would be to ensure at least 25 percent of all licenses go to businesses owned by people in those categories.
Other lawmakers had said previously that the bill could end up back at the 25 percent goal, rather than the mandate, depending on how the negotiations go.
Small businesses would be at least 10 percent of the industry
In addition to licenses for cultivators, processors, wholesalers and retailers, the bill is expected to make micro-licenses available to businesses in the New Jersey marijuana market. The idea behind the micro-licenses is to give smaller businesses a better chance to enter the market.
The micro-licenses allow businesses to function much the same as normal licensees — growing, processing or selling marijuana — but at a smaller scale, which requires less money to launch.
The bill calls for at least 10 percent of all licenses to be micro-licenses.
Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
Areas with high unemployment would be favored
In his last attempt at a recreational bill, Scutari introduced the idea of social impact zones. These were areas with high poverty and marijuana arrest rates that disproportionately affected minorities. Scutari’s bill gave preference to licensing companies from those areas.
Assemblyman Joseph Danielsen, D-Somerset, who supported the social impact zones, said the problem was that the overlapping income and arrest information wasn’t available.
As an alternative, Danielsen said the lawmakers are considering giving preferential treatment to companies based in areas with high unemployment.
The bill says that towns with an unemployment rate that ranks in the top 10 percent of the state would be considered an impact zone, and the bill sets a goal of awarding 25 percent of all licenses to applicants who have lived in an impact zone for at least the last three years.
Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
No home-grow
As much as some marijuana advocates want to be able to grow at home, this bill does not allow home-grow.
Lawmakers have said that it’s a nonstarter.
Expungements have not been finalized
If Jersey legalizes marijuana, low-level marijuana possession would be legal, meaning there would be hundreds of thousands of residents with a conviction for an activity that is no longer a crime.
Each of the recreational bills introduced this year have allowed people with low-level marijuana possession to apply to clear that charge from their records. More recently, lawmakers have been working to make that process easier. Assemblyman Jamel Holley, D-Union, has been leading that effort.
But this bill doesn’t specify how expungements would work should weed be legalized. Holley said that the final version would have expungement language.
Scutari said that Holley and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D-Union, are also writing an accompanying bill that does more to expedite expungements, meaning more details on expungements aren’t known at the moment.
Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
But when would weed really be legal?
While the bill would immediately make legal the possession and personal use of small amounts of marijuana, it would take several months before the commercial industry could get up and running.
The bill says the commission would have 180 days to adopt rules and regulations, including the number of licenses it would issue. After the rules are adopted, the commission must start accepting applications for licenses within 30 days, and approving or denying those applications within an additional 30 days.
The commission then would be required to issue licenses 30 days after approval. Once a cultivation business has its license, it would be free to start growing marijuana, but it would take a few months to harvest the plants.
It’s probably safe to say that if this bill passes, the commercial market will be up and running in about a year.
Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
Where does the bill stand?
The bill obtained by NJ Advance Media is the same one sent to Murphy and his team last week. Lawmakers are awaiting feedback from the governor and expect to make small changes before introducing the bill to the Legislature.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has said he believes he has the votes to pass legalization, but it’s unlikely to get done before October, which was his goal. Lawmakers have said to expect multiple hearings before the bill will be put to a vote.
Originally published here by NJ.com
