Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

ENROLLED ORIGINAL

                                            AN ACT

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                   IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                      _________________

To amend, on an emergency basis, the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment

      Amendment Act of 2010 to ban straw ownership, provide that the number of testing

      laboratories allowed in an election ward cannot exceed 2, provide that no person who has

      a felony conviction for a crime of violence, gun offense, tax evasion, fraud, or credit card

      fraud that occurred within 3 years preceding the filing of an application shall be eligible

      to be a director, owner, officer, or agent of a dispensary, cultivation center, or testing

      laboratory, and remove the prohibition preventing an individual with a felony conviction

      from working at a dispensary, cultivation center, or testing laboratory.

       BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

act may be cited as the Medical Cannabis Emergency Amendment Act of 2021.

        Sec. 2. The Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Amendment Act of 2010,

effective February 25, 2010 (D.C. Law 13-315; D.C. Official Code  7-1671.01 et seq.), is

amended as follows:

        (a) Section 2 (D.C. Official Code  7-1671.01) is amended by adding a new paragraph

(20A) to read as follows:

                 (20A) Straw ownership means nominal ownership without the attendant

benefits and risks of genuine ownership, where someone, often for a fee, allows themselves to be

named on documents or purports in writing to be an owner, in whole or in part, for the purpose

of satisfying a government regulatory requirement..

        (b) Section 7 (D.C. Official Code  7-1671.06) is amended as follows:

                (1) Subsection (d) is amended as follows:

                        (A) Paragraph (3)(A) is amended to read as follows:

                "(3)(A) The total number of cultivation centers that may be registered to operate

within an election ward, established by the Council in section 4 of the Redistricting Procedure

Act of 1981, effective March 16, 1982 (D.C. Law 4-87; D.C. Official Code  1-1041.03), shall

not exceed 6 and the total number of testing laboratories that may be registered to operate within

an election ward shall not exceed 2..

                        (B) Paragraph (5) is amended as follows:

                               (i) Subparagraph (A) is amended by striking the phrase , or

applicant eligible to be a medical cannabis certified business enterprise,.

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                                (ii) A new subparagraph (A-i) is added to read as follows:

                        (A-i) Straw ownership for the purposes of meeting the medical cannabis

ownership requirements of this section is prohibited, both for a District resident and an out-of-

state resident. A person who is found to have willfully asserted straw ownership shall be guilty

of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than the amount

set forth in section 101 of the Criminal Fine Proportionality Amendment Act of 2012, effective

June 11, 2013 (D.C. Law 19-317; D.C. Official Code  22-3571.01), or imprisoned for not more

than one year, or both..

                 (2)    Subsection (j) is amended to read as follows:

        (j)(1) No person seeking to be a director, officer, member, incorporator, or agent of a

dispensary, cultivation center, or testing laboratory who has access to the medical cannabis at the

dispensary, cultivation center, or testing laboratory shall have had a felony conviction for a crime

of violence, a gun offense, tax evasion, fraud, or credit card fraud within the 3 years preceding

the date the application for licensure is filed with ABRA.

                 (2) The ABC Board shall not disqualify an employee of a dispensary, cultivation

center, or testing laboratory who has access to medical cannabis at the dispensary, cultivation

center, or testing laboratory from working at the dispensary, cultivation center, or testing

laboratory solely because the person has been convicted of a felony before filing the application.

                 (3) The ABC Board may establish additional criminal background requirements

by rulemaking for testing laboratory agents that are responsible for testing cannabis and cannabis

products and consult with other District agencies regarding an applicants record of adherence to

other regulatory requirements before granting an application..

       Sec. 3. Applicability.

       This act shall apply as of March 22, 2021.

       Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement.

       The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement of the Budget Director as the fiscal impact

statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, approved

October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code  1-301.47a).

       Sec. 4. Effective date.

       This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the

Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), and shall remain in effect for no longer than

90 days, as provided for emergency acts of the Council of the District of Columbia in section

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412(a) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 788;

D.C. Official Code  1-204.12(a)).

                     ______________________________

                     Chairman

                     Council of the District of Columbia

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 Mayor

 District of Columbia

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