The Board of Supervisors today authorized a Cannabis Equity Grant agreement with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development including $520,000 in state funds to be distributed to qualified applicants who have been negatively or disproportionately impacted in the past by cannabis prohibition and the war on drugs. The State of California set aside funds through the Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions to reduce or remove barriers to enter the newly regulated cannabis industry as well as to aid the state in its goal of eliminating the illicit cannabis market by bringing more operators into the legal market.
The County applied for and received notice in January 2025 that it would be awarded a new Cannabis Equity Grant totaling $558,102.04. A total of $520,000 will be awarded to verified applicants using criteria from the state that, in addition to cannabis-related offenses, was revised this year to include a low-income status of 60 percent of the area median income, and residency for five years in a census tract identified as having a low Human Development Index. The funding is available for uses including rent, licensing fees, legal assistance, regulatory compliance, cannabis testing, capital improvements, security equipment, workforce training, bookkeeping services, marketing, and tax relief. The remaining $38,102.04 will be used for equity program administration, counsel, and translation costs.
The County also received a Cannabis Equity Grant from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development in 2023. A total of $635,000 was awarded to 20 verified local equity applicants and operators who were impacted due to cannabis-related offenses that occurred between 1971 and 2016, including arrest for or conviction of the sale, possession, distribution, use, manufacture or cultivation of cannabis, or other non-violent cannabis-related crimes, or were subject to asset forfeiture.
The Sonoma County Local Cannabis Equity Program was established in 2021 following a Cannabis Equity Assessment that showed small cultivation operators, particularly those in the Penalty Relief Program, have been disproportionately impacted by bottlenecks, program requirements and subsequent costs in the County’s permitting process. The analysis also determined that state classification of cannabis as an agricultural product rather than as agriculture creates a more expensive permitting process than is required for other agricultural businesses.
Other issues identified by the assessment include rural neighborhood opposition, ordinance volatility and high capital barriers to entry, such as high real estate values in the county, resulting in limited opportunities for small cannabis operators. Sonoma County’s Latinx and low-income individuals, families and communities were also found to have suffered a disproportionately negative impact due to pre-Proposition 64 enforcement.
Local Cannabis Equity Program applications are available here.
Equity applicants who received funding during calendar year 2024 will not be eligible for grant funding prior to the end of the term of their current grant, or June 30, 2026. This ensures new applicants and operators will benefit from grant funding.
Board of Supervisors materials regarding the Local Cannabis Equity Program.
For more information related to cannabis operations in Sonoma County, please call (707) 565-7420, email Cannabis@Sonoma-County.org or visit the Sonoma County Cannabis Program.
Be First to Comment