NEWLY AMENDED OLCC REGULATIONS FOR APPLICATIONS

BY ALICIA ALTENAU, GREEN LIGHT LAW GROUP —

Amended regulations enacted by the OLCC became effective on Saturday February 1, 2020.   The Commission amended 50 existing regulations covering a wide variety of matters related to both the marijuana and hemp industries.  The following amended regulations are specific to Applications: 

  • OAR 845-025-1015 – Definitional changes. 

 

  • “Financial Interest Holder” now includes adults who live in the same house as an applicant and may be “financially impacted” by the success or failure of the business.  This is a very broad term, and could include live-in significant others as well as adult children, parents under the care of an applicant, and others who are financially intertwined with the applicant.  The outside edges of the rule are not well-defined by this rule, so it remains to be seen exactly how much benefit or loss the other adults have to see before they need to be on the license.  For example, if an applicant has a roommate, and the revenues from the applicant’s OLCC-licensed business are down that month, and the roommate has to cover rent, is that a sufficient impact?  We just don’t know yet. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1030 – Neither of the updates here are news particularly, as we have heard from the OLCC previously that their rules were going to require landlord permission for production of marijuana, and that processors would not be able to update ownership information on applications.  The updates here just make those changes official. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1060 – If the licensee submits a renewal application within the time frame allowed, submits renewal fees, and is allowed to keep operating pending the license renewal, the renewal fees aren’t refundable. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1090  This rule change just confirms that if you are converting from a medical marijuana grow site to an OLCC producer license, you don’t have to get a new LUCS if (1) the applicants on the license were registered for a grow site at the same location prior to Feb. 1, 2016 and (2) the applicants are current for a registered grow site at the same location.  However, the applicants don’t have to have been continuously registered between 2016 and the date of application. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1115  For persons who have a conviction on their records, the OLCC may use a set of factors to determine whether the conviction is “substantially related” to the applicant’s ability to legally operate a marijuana business.  The factors include whether the applicant has completed treatment, has shown a pattern of behavior, and the time elapsed since the offense.  Manufacturing or delivering controlled substances is specifically called out, so this may be something in particular to watch for. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1160(1)(a) – Updates in a financial interest holder’s information no longer needs to be reported within 10 days. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1160(2) – Includes the requirement that applicants notify the OLCC within 24 hours of a citation in lieu of arrest, not just within 24 hours of the arrest. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1160(5)(b) – Added a whole new section that allows a licensee who has lost access to their licensed premises to change the location of the license if the licensee: 
  1. Notifies the OLCC at least 15 days before losing their licensed location (all licensees must notify the OLCC at least 15 days before they lose access to their premises); 
  2. All marijuana is removed from the premises prior to losing access; 
  3. No investigations or pending violations; 
  4. The licensee can show documentation that they will have access to another premises within 30 days of losing access at their original location; and 
  5. The licensee gets a LUCS for the new location. 

 

  • OAR 845-025-1230  Some updates were made to the daily log requirements, but the two biggest were that government employees with jurisdiction over the business don’t have to be captured in the daily log, and the daily logs must be kept for 90 days.

 

A copy of Oregon Administrative Regulation 845-025-1330 with the exact language and changes discussed above is included in Green Light’s compilation of the newly amended regulations (in sequential form) and available here. The individual regulations can also be found on OLCC’s site here.

 

Some regulations were amended much more substantially than others.  Green Light Law Group will continue to provide more analysis as to these regulations in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, we encourage licensees to review the regulations in detail to maintain compliance and if necessary, to contact our offices for more information.

Source:  http://portlandmarijuanaattorneys.com/2020/02/18/olcc-2020-applications/

 

 

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