What Will it Take to Snag a Marijuana Business License

Q+A with New York Cannabis Board Chair

By Caroline Lewis, Health Reporter, WNYC/Gothamist

This article originally appeared in The Gothamist on January 6th, 2022 and is reprinted here with permission. It has been edited for length.

New York legalized marijuana for recreational use last March with a law designed to carve out space for small businesses and people from diverse backgrounds. But nearly a year out, much remains unknown about what the licensing process will look like for aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs anxiously waiting in the wings — or how accessible the industry will really be.

In an effort to provide a clearer picture of what the application process will look like and what they will need to participate in the industry, the Community Board hosted a Q&A with Tremaine Wright, chair of the state’s recently formed Cannabis Control Board, which will be overseeing the licensing process.

Regulations for the state’s marijuana startups will be issued by the Cannabis Control Board “this winter or early spring,” Wright said. But she urged people to start familiarizing themselves with the types of licenses that will be available and drafting their business plans.

Although many questions remain about the application process — and how it will help or hinder the state’s equity agenda — Wright offered some insights into what applicants can expect.

When will dispensaries be open for business?

If everything goes according to the Cannabis Control Board’s 18-month timeline, recreational dispensaries should be licensed to operate by summer 2023.

When will license applications become available?

There’s no set date, but it will likely take several months. The Cannabis Control Board aims to issue draft regulations for the licensing process in the first quarter of this year. Then, there will be two months for public comment before the regulations are finalized; only after that will applications become available.

How much will it cost to apply for a license?

The application fees for different types of recreational cannabis licenses have yet to be determined, but Wright said people can get a sense of the fee scale by looking at the new rules that have been issued for the state’s hemp program. The fee for a hemp extraction and manufacturing license is $3,500, while the license fee for a dispensary is $300 per retail location.

“I don't anticipate recreational marijuana being that low,” said Wright, but she added, “We are very deliberate that we do not have astronomical pricing because we want this to be an equitable program.”

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act notes, however, that fees should be reduced or waived for “social and economic equity” applicants.

Will the state help applicants with startup capital?

In other states, and in New York’s own medical market, legal marijuana has largely been dominated by companies helmed by white men with access to wealthy investors. As part of the effort to make the adult-use market more accessible, the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act indicates that the state should make low- and no-interest loans available to “qualified social and economic equity applicants.”

But Wright said those loans are not guaranteed to be available in the first round of licensing because the money to fund them will largely come from tax revenue generated by the industry.

The law does say, however, that the state’s existing medical marijuana companies must pay fees upfront that are sufficient to fund an incubator that can provide assistance to some of the new startups. Wright suggested that people also seek to tap into other incubator programs, including those that are not cannabis-specific.

She and members of Community Board 12 encouraged people to reach out to NYC Small Business Services for assistance in developing business plans and raising capital.

Will applicants be able to open a chain of dispensaries?

Probably not. Wright said she anticipates that companies will only be able to get one retail license for one location. The intent is “not to have any one entity owning 10 stores at this time.”

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any major dispensary chains in New York. The state’s existing medical marijuana companies were each initially allowed to open four medical dispensaries. Under the new law, they will be able to double their total number of dispensaries to eight.

Will I have to have a lease on a space for the business when I apply?

“We are leaning toward you not having to have it already, but you might need a letter of intent” from a landlord, Wright said. She added that as part of the application process, people will likely have to inform their local community board of their plans, as one would when applying for a liquor license, which also involves knowing where the site will be located. A lot of people want to open cannabis dispensaries or lounges. What other licenses should people consider that get overlooked?

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act lays out nine different types of licenses companies can apply for and details what each entails: cultivator, nursery, processor, distributor, retail-dispensary, delivery, on-site consumption, adult-use cooperative, and microbusiness.

“I don’t hear many people [talking about] processing and manufacturing, however I know there are lots of makers in our communities,” Wright said. She noted that processor licenses cover the production of edibles like candy and baked goods, which create a good opportunity to establish a brand.

“Delivery is a fantastic option because it is designed to be a small business and create jobs as well as the potential for wealth,” Wright added. She said delivery companies would likely be capped at 25 employees in order to prevent behemoths like Uber from entering the market.

“We’re trying to focus on not creating a space where monopolies can take over and kill all our small businesses,” she said.

Link to original article: https://gothamist.com/news/faq-new-york-

cannabis-board-chair-answers-questions-about-what-it-will-takesnag-marijuana-business-license

Access to Broadband is About Equity, Quality of Life and Economic Development

By Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy

The ongoing COVID pandemic, especially now with the emergence of the Omicron variant and surge of new infections and hospitalizations, has forced us to look in the mirror as a society for ways we can improve. COVID-19, for better or worse, has highlighted issues that have existed long before the virus was discovered, and it is our responsibility to address these concerns and not repeat the same mistakes for future generations.

One of the things we have learned over the last two years is how critically important access to broadband is to us in order to keep government and the economy functioning. Albany County government is a great example of how an organization was able to adapt to the challenges presented and chart a path towards a connected and more efficient operation. As COVID infections spiked in the spring of 2020 – long before any vaccine had been created – county governments were forced to convert largely to remote operations. That meant much of our workforce needed to be outfitted with computers and with the proper security protections. However, this raised a vital question: What happens if someone does not have reliable access to an internet connection?

Of course, it’s not just government employees who are impacted by limited access to high-speed internet. We must also consider the residents we serve who rely on important government programs and services each day. And it goes without saying that students, whether in grade school or college, need access to the internet in order to keep track of their course work and complete homework assignments, especially if COVID forces schools to transition to remote learning again.

Access to, and the availability of, broadband is inherently an issue of equity. Availability is often a factor of geography, and those in rural communities are less likely to have needed infrastructure in place to connect to the internet. However, access is a factor of affordability of broadband and it is a separate issue for lower income families struggling to make ends meet. Government needs to be able to find remedies to both of these problems. A recent report released by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli in September of last year found that over one million households across the state are not connected to broadband. And while some areas of the state are faring better than others, we need to do more to improve access and availability everywhere. As of 2019, 0.6% of the Capital Region did not have broadband infrastructure available. This may seem like a small number, but it equates to nearly 6,200 people, many who call Albany County home. Additionally, a study conducted by the City of Albany and Millennium Strategies in 2017 estimated that as much as 35% of the City’s population does not have access to affordable high-speed broadband, and that number is likely to be even higher in lower income and minority neighborhoods.

That’s why I’ve made addressing this issue a top priority, and I am pledging to close the gap for all Albany County residents by the end of 2025. In order to meet this deadline, I’ve launched the Albany County Connect Project and commissioned international telecommunications consulting group, Insight Enterprises Inc., along with Tilson Technology Management to conduct a gap analysis and feasibility study in partnership with New York State, the Advance Albany County Alliance LDC and private sector telecommunications firm FirstLight Fiber.

The study will focus on availability, accessibility and affordability of high-speed internet access in the urban, suburban and rural parts of the County and will be completed this spring. Ultimately, it will produce an actionable solution or suite of solutions and policies with which the County can apply for state and federal funding to implement. I’ve also signed a memorandum of understanding with FirstLight Fiber to buy their Wi-Fi network, Albany FreeNet in downtown Albany, in an effort to improve internet access for downtown residents.

Broadband is no longer something that we can afford to have reserved for the affluent and the privileged. It is something nearly as indispensable as electricity and heating or cooling your home. It is a prerequisite to educating our children, growing our economy, and providing a quality of life that attracts and retains citizens, ensuring every resident has access to high-speed internet remains one of my highest priorities as County Executive.

Mapping New York’s Broadband & How You Can Play a Role

By Rory Christian, Department of Public Service CEO

Over the last 19 months, all of us have been asked to move so much of our daily activity online. From work, to education, to healthcare, and much more. For these reasons, ensuring reliable and affordable connectivity in every corner of our state is of paramount importance. The only way to do this is by understanding where broadband infrastructure exists and where it does not – an exercise that for far too long has been left unattended to.

To help make this happen, the New York State Legislature passed the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act of 2021. The bill allowed the Department of Public Service to create the Broadband Assessment Program and house it within the agency’s Office of Telecommunications. The program, whose work will be updated annually, will showcase New York’s first-ever, in-depth interactive broadband map detailing the availability and reliability of high-speed broadband infrastructure statewide. The map, along with an accompanying report, will be released this spring.

At the agency, we are thrilled to be able to work toward delivering an assessment of the infrastructure available to New Yorkers and put a spotlight on where infrastructure needs are greatest so the hard work of improving those areas can begin. The agency is also proud to be part of Governor Hochul’s recently announced ConnectALL Initiative, a transformational investment in New York's communities and digital infrastructure. The Department of Public Service will lead the outreach for this multi-agency initiative that will ensure available and accessible high-speed, reliable broadband for all New Yorkers.

Through field-verified research, and with the help of internet service providers (ISPs), the interactive map will demonstrate not only those areas meeting the state’s definition of served, but the unserved and underserved broadband infrastructure areas across the state. The definitions are as follows:

• Served - any location with at least two ISPs, and one of those ISPs provides 100mbps speed;

• Underserved - any location which has fewer than two

ISPs or has two (or more) ISPs offering speeds less than 100mbps; and

• Unserved - any location with no fixed wireless or wired service, or any location with less than 25mbps speeds available.

In addition to hearing from internet service providers, we need to hear from consumers themselves to better assess the data collected thus far and detailed in the report. Therefore, as part of the program, the agency has developed a consumer survey to hear about your broadband experience or lack thereof.

We are committed to making this program something that can be used by everyone, but we need your input to understand what’s happening in your communities. We are asking everyone to take our broadband assessment survey and speed test by March 18, 2022. You can visit www.empirestatebroadband. com from a home computer, laptop, mobile device, or while visiting a public Wi-Fi location. If you’re unable to take the survey online due to lack of connectivity, you can call our tollfree broadband assessment line at 1-855-NYBBMAP (1-855692-2627).

For those of you who have already completed the survey – thank you. We are proud to report to date we have had more than 10,000 households and businesses from every corner of the state complete this survey. In addition, DPS will be hosting an upcoming series of public hearings to solicit input from the public. You can find more information about those hearings on our website at www.dps.ny.gov once details are released. We hope to see you there.