F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
HB 549 2022
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to legalization of recreational
3 marijuana; providing a short title; amending s.
4 20.165, F.S.; renaming the Division of Alcoholic
5 Beverages and Tobacco of the Department of Business
6 and Professional Regulation as the Division of
7 Alcoholic Beverages, Marijuana, and Tobacco; amending
8 s. 561.025, F.S.; renaming the Alcoholic Beverage and
9 Tobacco Trust Fund as the Alcoholic Beverage,
10 Marijuana, and Tobacco Trust Fund; specifying
11 distribution of funds; creating ch. 566, F.S.,
12 entitled "Recreational Marijuana"; providing
13 definitions; exempting certain activities involving
14 marijuana from use and possession offenses;
15 authorizing persons age 21 and over to engage in
16 certain activities involving personal use of marijuana
17 in limited amounts; providing limits on where persons
18 may engage in specified activities; prohibiting the
19 use of false identification by persons under 21 years
20 of age for specified activities relating to
21 recreational marijuana; providing noncriminal
22 penalties; providing for personal cultivation;
23 specifying possession limits; specifying duties of the
24 Division of Alcoholic Beverages, Marijuana, and
25 Tobacco; creating a cannabis equity program; providing
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26 for fee waiver and loan programs; establishing special
27 provisions for equity applicants and microbusinesses;
28 providing for issuance of early approval adult use
29 dispensing organization licenses; specifying selection
30 criteria; providing for issuance of conditional adult
31 use dispensing organization license after a specified
32 date; providing for adult use dispensing organization
33 licenses; providing for identification cards for
34 dispensing organizations; providing for background
35 checks; requiring disclosure of ownership and control
36 of dispensing organizations; providing for changes to
37 dispensing organizations; providing for financial
38 responsibility of dispensing organizations; providing
39 for administration of dispensing organizations;
40 providing operational requirements; providing
41 requirements for inventory control systems; providing
42 storage requirements; providing dispensing
43 requirements; providing requirements for destruction
44 and disposal of cannabis; requiring designation of an
45 agent-in-charge; providing requirements for such
46 agents; requiring security measures; specifying
47 requirements for security of dispensaries; requiring
48 certain recordkeeping for dispensaries; providing for
49 nondisciplinary citations for minor violations;
50 providing penalties; specifying grounds for
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51 discipline; authorizing temporary suspension of
52 licenses; authorizing consent orders to resolve
53 certain disciplinary complaints; providing for
54 hearings on disciplinary complaints; providing for
55 issuance of adult use cultivation center licenses;
56 providing requirements; providing for early approval
57 of adult use cultivation center licenses; providing
58 for conditional adult use cultivation center license
59 applications; providing requirements for such centers;
60 providing for scoring of applications; providing for
61 denial of applications under certain circumstances;
62 providing for cultivation center agent identification
63 cards; requiring cultivation center background checks;
64 providing for renewal of cultivation center licenses
65 and agent identification cards; providing for
66 licensure of craft growers; providing requirements;
67 providing for applications and scoring; providing for
68 denial of applications in certain circumstances;
69 providing for identification cards; requiring
70 background checks; providing for renewal of licenses
71 and identification cards; providing for licensing of
72 infuser organizations; providing requirements;
73 providing for applications and scoring; providing for
74 denial of applications in certain circumstances;
75 providing for identification cards; requiring
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76 background checks; providing for renewal of licenses
77 and identification cards; providing for licensing of
78 transporting organizations; providing requirements;
79 providing for applications and scoring; providing for
80 denial of applications in certain circumstances;
81 providing for identification cards; requiring
82 background checks; providing for renewal of licenses
83 and identification cards; providing for cannabis
84 testing facilities; requiring approval of testing
85 facilities ; providing requirements; requiring that
86 certain tests be performed before manufacturing or
87 natural processing of any cannabis or cannabis-infused
88 product or packaging cannabis for sale to a
89 dispensary; requiring the department to establish
90 certain standards; authorizing certain enforcement
91 actions by the department; authorizing the Attorney
92 General to enforce certain provisions under the
93 Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; providing
94 immunity for prosecution or discipline under certain
95 provisions for licensees for engaging in licensed
96 conduct; providing construction; providing standards
97 and requirements for advertising and promotions;
98 providing standards and requirements for packaging and
99 labeling; requiring certain warning labels; providing
100 for certain local zoning ordinances for regulated
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101 businesses; providing for nonconflicting local
102 ordinances and rules; authorizing certain local
103 regulation of on-premises cannabis consumption;
104 authorizing establishment of restricted cannabis
105 zones; providing definitions; providing a process for
106 local governments to create such zones; providing
107 requirements for such zones; providing for enforcement
108 of tax provisions; providing for search, seizure, and
109 forfeiture of cannabis in certain circumstances;
110 requiring a report concerning a grant program;
111 amending s. 500.03, F.S.; providing that marijuana
112 establishments that sell food containing marijuana are
113 considered food service establishments for the
114 purposes of specified regulations; creating s.
115 500.105, F.S.; specifying that food products
116 containing marijuana that are prepared in permitted
117 food establishments and sold by licensed retail
118 marijuana stores are not considered adulterated;
119 amending s. 562.13, F.S.; providing that it is
120 unlawful for marijuana establishments to employ
121 persons under 18 years of age under certain
122 provisions; amending s. 569.0073, F.S.; exempting
123 licensed marijuana establishments from specified
124 provisions regulating the sale of pipes and smoking
125 devices; amending s. 893.03, F.S.; removing cannabis
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126 from the schedule of controlled substances; amending
127 ss. 893.13 and 893.135, F.S.; providing that conduct
128 authorized under chapter 566, F.S., is not prohibited
129 by specified controlled substance prohibitions;
130 removing restrictions of possession and sale of
131 cannabis; correcting cross-references; creating s.
132 893.13501, F.S.; providing for retroactive effect of
133 amendments to ss. 893.03, 893.13, and 893.135, F.S.,
134 by this act; providing for sentencing review for
135 certain offenders; requiring notice to certain
136 offenders; providing procedures for resentencing or
137 release of offenders; providing exceptions; amending
138 s. 921.0022, F.S.; conforming provisions to changes
139 made by the act; creating s. 943.0586, F.S.; providing
140 definitions; authorizing an individual convicted of
141 certain crimes to obtain sealing of his or her
142 criminal history record or petition the court for
143 expunction of his or her criminal history record under
144 certain circumstances; requiring the individual to
145 first obtain a certificate of eligibility from the
146 Department of Law Enforcement; requiring the
147 department to adopt rules establishing the procedures
148 for applying for and issuing such certificates;
149 requiring the department to issue a certificate under
150 certain circumstances; providing for the expiration of
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151 and reapplication for the certificate; providing for
152 sealing of certain records up the department's
153 determination of eligibility; providing requirements
154 for the petition for expunction; providing criminal
155 penalties; providing for the court's authority over
156 its own procedures, with an exception; requiring the
157 court to order the expunction of a criminal history
158 record under certain circumstances; providing that
159 expunction of certain criminal history records does
160 not affect eligibility for expunction of other
161 criminal history records; providing procedures for
162 processing expunction petitions and orders; providing
163 that a person granted an expunction may lawfully deny
164 or fail to acknowledge the underlying arrest or
165 conviction, with exceptions; providing that a person
166 may not be deemed to have committed perjury or
167 otherwise held liable for giving a false statement if
168 he or she fails to recite or acknowledge an expunged
169 criminal history record; amending ss. 210.01, 210.10,
170 210.13, 210.151, 210.16, 210.1605, 210.20, 210.25,
171 210.405, 210.51, 213.053, 282.709, 322.212, 386.207,
172 402.62, 403.708, 455.116, 561.01, 561.02, 561.121,
173 561.14, 561.20, 561.221, 561.32, 561.545, 561.68,
174 561.695, 561.703, 562.025, 562.111, 562.45, 569.002,
175 569.003, 569.12, 569.31, 616.265, 633.142, 812.171,
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176 812.173, 812.174, 812.175, 812.176, 832.06, 877.18,
177 932.7055, 943.0595, 1002.395, and 1003.485, F.S.;
178 conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
179 providing an effective date.
180
181 WHEREAS, cannabis prohibition has had devastating impacts
182 on communities across Florida and the United States, and
183 WHEREAS, persons convicted of a cannabis offense and their
184 families suffer the long-term consequences of prohibition, and
185 WHEREAS, while some individuals have a more difficult time
186 entering the cannabis industry due, in part, to a lack of access
187 to capital, business space, technical support, and regulatory
188 compliance assistance, offering technical support, regulatory
189 compliance assistance, and assistance with securing the capital
190 necessary to begin a business will further reduce barriers to
191 licensure and employment in the regulated industry, and
192 WHEREAS, offering such support will also aid the state in
193 its goal of eliminating or reducing the illicit cannabis market
194 by bringing more people into the legal marketplace, and
195 WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
196 persons most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty be
197 offered assistance to enter the multi-billion dollar cannabis
198 industry as entrepreneurs or as employees with high quality,
199 well-paying jobs, and
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200 WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
201 cannabis industry be representative of the state's population,
202 and that barriers to entering the industry are reduced through
203 support of cannabis equity programs, NOW, THEREFORE,
204
205 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
206
207 Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Florida Adult Use
208 and Equity Act."
209 Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) and paragraph
210 (a) of subsection (9) of sec