|
REFERENCE TITLE: licensing; marijuana establishments |
|
State of Arizona Senate Fifty-sixth Legislature First Regular Session 2023
|
|
SB 1195 |
|
|
|
Introduced by Senator Gowan
|
An Act
amending section 36-2803.01, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to marijuana.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Subject to the requirements of article IV, part 1, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, section 36-2803.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
36-2803.01. New dispensary registration certificates; issuance; priority; requirements; definitions
A. Beginning on April 1, 2020, the department shall issue all new nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificates in the following order of priority based on the dispensary's geographic area as described in the registration certificate application:
1. The geographic area had a registered nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary move from the geographic area and the geographic area is at least twenty-five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.
2. The geographic area is at least twenty-five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.
3. According to rule, if there are no dispensary registration certificate applications as described in paragraph 1 or 2 of this subsection.
B. If the department receives multiple applications as described in subsection A, paragraph 1 of this section from previously approved nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary locations, the department shall approve the certificate for the application that serves the most qualifying patients within five miles of the proposed dispensary location. If the department receives multiple applications as described in subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section or if there are no applications from previously approved dispensary locations, the department may issue the registration certificate by random drawing.
C. A nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary that receives a registration certificate pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 1 or 2 of this section on or after April 1, 2020 must open the dispensary at the approved location within eighteen months after the application is approved or the registration certificate becomes invalid.
D. A nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary that is issued a registration certificate pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 1 or 2 of this section may relocate only as follows:
1. If the dispensary is located within a city or town, only within that city or town.
2. If the dispensary is located within an unincorporated area, only within the unincorporated area of the county where the dispensary is located but not within twenty-five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.
E. Notwithstanding any other law, beginning on the effective date of this amendment to this section, the department shall allow Arizona small businesses that have been awarded a marijuana establishment license pursuant to chapter 28.2 of this title but not a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificate to apply for and receive a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificate and become a dual licensee. The department shall issue a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificate to each qualified Arizona small business applicant on submittal of a complete application and the application fee.
E. F. For the purposes of this section: ,
1. "Active ownership interest" means an equity, stock or equivalent interest in an entity that gives the owner the right to vote or consent to the entity's business matters or the right to manage, control or otherwise participate in the entity's business affairs.
2. "Arizona small business" means an entity that, at the time of applying pursuant to subsection E of this section, satisfies all of the following conditions:
(a) Each natural person who has held an active ownership interest in the entity or any of its affiliated entities since the entity's establishment has lived in this state for at least nine months during each calendar year beginning in 2020.
(b) A majority owner of the entity, at the time the entity's marijuana establishment license was issued pursuant to chapter 28.2 of this title, had a household income that was not greater than four hundred percent of the federal poverty level.
(c) The entity and its affiliated entities have never been owned by a natural person who, at the time the entity's marijuana establishment license was issued pursuant to chapter 28.2 of this title, held an active ownership interest, directly or indirectly, in another entity that is a dual licensee in this state or that has been issued a marijuana business license in another state.
3. "Dual licensee" has the same meaning prescribed in section 36-2850.
4. "Geographic area" means a city, town or unincorporated area of a county.
Sec. 2. Legislative findings; purpose; voter protection act
A. The legislature hereby finds and declares:
1. The presence in Arizona of stand-alone adult-use marijuana establishments that lack a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificate is contrary to the public policy of the State of Arizona.
2. A marijuana establishment's lack of a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificate requires certain medical marijuana patients to pay excise taxes for medical purchases.
3. The payment of an adult-use excise tax by registered and qualified medical marijuana patients amounts to a penalty imposed on the patients.
4. To avoid excise taxes, medical marijuana patients who do not reside near a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary will more likely resort to unregulated markets, causing criminal actors to flourish, untested products to proliferate and sales tax revenues to decrease.
5. This act promotes the medical freedom of Arizonans who may wish to try tested medical marijuana without causing new brick and mortar retail sites to open.
B. This act furthers the purposes of the Smart and Safe Arizona Act and the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act as follows:
1. As stated in the legislature's findings, this act furthers the Smart and Safe Arizona Act's purposes of having "[l]egitimate, taxpaying business people, and not criminal actors, conduct sales of marijuana," in addition to increasing the extent to which "[m]arijuana sold in this state is tested, labeled and subject to additional regulations to ensure that consumers are informed and protected."
2. This act furthers the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act's stated purpose of "protect[ing] patients with debilitating medical conditions" from experiencing "criminal and other penalties...if such patients engage in the medical use of marijuana."
Sec. 3. Rulemaking exemption
Notwithstanding any other law, for the purposes of this act, the department of health services is exempt from the rulemaking requirements of title 41, chapters 6 and 6.1, Arizona Revised Statutes, for one year after the effective date of this act.
Sec. 4. Requirements for enactment; three-fourths vote
Pursuant to article IV, part 1, section 1, Constitution of Arizona, section 36-2803.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by this act, is effective only on the affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the legislature.
Sec. 5. Emergency
This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law.