Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Realizing Equitable & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades Resolution” or the “RESPECT Resolution”.
Realizing Equitable & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades Resolution
RESOLUTION
Urging action to increase equity within the legal cannabis marketplace.
Sec. 2 Best practices and steps to address disparities in the cannabis marketplace participation; address, reverse, and repair certain effects of the war on drugs
In general— The House of Representatives encourages States and localities to adopt best practices and take bold steps referred to in subsection (b) to address disparities in the cannabis marketplace participation and to address, reverse, and repair the most egregious effects of the War on Drugs on communities of color, in particular to those who now hold criminal records for a substance that is now legal and regulated.
Best practices and steps— The practices and steps referred to in this subsection include—
establishing licensing and application fees that are reasonable to cover only the costs of program implementation and necessary regulations;
creating a system where licensing is to be obtained at the city or county level and should be based on regulations determined by the local jurisdiction that meet the State’s minimum requirements, which allows the community to determine the type and number of businesses, avoids arbitrary caps on licenses, and results in an industry more representative of the local market;
in States where license caps are completely unavoidable, establishing local oversight and control of cannabis licenses by allowing local cities and municipalities to prioritize licenses for local citizens and residents, especially individuals most impacted by the War on Drugs, by taking into account and prioritizing—
long-term residency within the State or locality;
individuals whose income is less than 80 percent of the median household income within a county;
individuals who have been formerly incarcerated;
individuals with prior drug law violations; and
individuals living within a jurisdiction that is heavily policed;
adopting laws and implementing regulations that will allow small cultivators to thrive in the legal market;
creating more equitable licensing by—
eliminating broad felony restrictions for licensing;
focusing restrictions on entering the market to those, determined on a case-by-case basis for both licensees and employees, with criminal convictions that are relevant to the owning and operating of a business; and
prohibiting previous cannabis convictions from consideration as justification for a denial of a license;
creating an automatic process, at no cost for the individual, for the expungement or sealing of criminal records for cannabis offenses that is inclusive of individuals currently on parole or under any probationary agreement, for cannabis offenses;
establishing a process for resentencing persons serving sentences for cannabis convictions and redesignating of penalties for persons previously convicted of cannabis-related crimes for which the penalties have been reduced or removed;
eliminating suspicionless drug testing for nonsafety sensitive positions;
eliminating punishment or other penalization for persons currently under parole, probation, or other State supervision, or released on bail awaiting trial, for conduct otherwise allowed under State cannabis laws;
setting aside a percentage of the tax revenue from cannabis sales to be reinvested in communities that have been most affected by cannabis arrests and the drug war, which most frequently have been communities of color, including programs for job training, reentry services, expungement expenses, public libraries, community centers, programs and opportunities dedicated to youth, and health education programs;
using a percentage of tax revenue to establish a special fund to provide small business investments to support people of color entering into the legal marijuana industry;
establishing cannabis regulatory and oversight bodies and commissions that reflect the racial, ethnic, economic, and gender makeup of the surrounding community;
creating employment and subcontracting requirements for cannabis licensee in order to use the ancillary business activity generated by the cannabis industry to employ people of color; and
including provisions designating spaces for public consumption, either by the licensing of social entities or by creating these spaces.