The state of California handed out another $18.4 million to 18 cities and counties to aid each of them in funding their respective social equity business licensing programs. The move is an annual dispersal of payments from the Office of Business and Economic Development.
The grants this year brings the state’s total financial commitment to $123.4 million to 34 different local cannabis social equity programs, with the money intended to be used for “low/no-interest loans or grants, reduced licensing fees or waived fees and technical assistance, including one-on-one consulting and training, and navigation assistance with cannabis licensing,” the office said in a press release.
Thus far, the state funding has helped localities issue 1,446 social equity marijuana business permits, the office said.
The locality recipients and their awards include:
The social equity grant award news arrived the same week that the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration posted fourth-quarter sales figures for the legal cannabis industry, which were the lowest since early 2020.
It also comes a few days after the state Department of Cannabis Control issued a report that concluded the legal market is continuing to grow, although it noted the decline of legal retail sales, which it said was due primarily to price compression, as actual product unit sales figures have increased.
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