California DCC Wants Feedback On Its Equity Fee Waver Program
“The meeting was really about dialing in those regulations”
For some time now, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has sought to redress some of the legacy of the War on Drugs by waving fees to communities historically harmed by prohibition.
Now, the department wants to hear from the cannabis community about proposed changes to the state’s cannabis Equity Fee Waiver Program and proposed deferral regulations. Members of the DCC invited cannabis industry stakeholders to a virtual meeting on Wednesday to get feedback on the proposed changes and to brainstorm additional strategies.
“The meeting was really about dialing in those regulations and building out the [existing Equity Fee Waiver] Program,” Ross Gordon, policy director at the Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA) and policy chair at the Origins Council, said during a follow-up interview with the Outpost. “…We have a lot of equity businesses in our membership – and obviously thousands all around the state – that have been impacted by the War on Drugs, and the state has set aside some funding and created a program to provide equity fee waivers and deferrals for those equity businesses.”
Eugene Hillsman, deputy director of Equity and Inclusion at the DCC, identified two primary changes to the existing fee waiver program. The first is “narrowing the residency criteria” of counties with higher-than-average rates of drug-related charges by focusing on individuals who “live in a census tract with a high rate of poverty” or “who have a family member who was convicted of a cannabis-related crime.”
To Read The Rest Of This Article On Lost Coast Outpost, Click Here
