We are now over a month and a half past the closing of the application window for social equity applicants to apply for pre-approval of cannabis licenses from Office of Cannabis Management. The burning question is: when will people know if their application was accepted into the lottery? We do not have exact dates like the verification and application windows, but here is what we know. But take this information with a grain of salt. Circumstances can always change, or I could be completely wrong.
OCM announced that 1,817 applications were submitted for the 282 pre-approval licenses during the window that ended on August 12, 2024. In a recent advisory meeting, OCM Interim Director Charlene Briner estimated each application will take reviewers 6-8 hours to process, and that they have twenty reviewers working overtime. Using these figures, the review could take 10,902 to 14,536 hours to complete. If we say the 20 reviewers are working 45 hours a week, that would be 900 hours a week. That that would mean reviewers could go through 150 to 113 applications a week. To process all 1,817 applications could take 12 – 16 weeks. OCM began reviewing submitted applications as they were submitted, but I suspect a vast majority of the applications were not filed until the last week of the application window. If this timeline holds, we could be looking at late November before the first review is done.
In addition, if there is a deficiency in an application, under the statute, the applicant is given two weeks to cure or fix it. We don’t know if the deficiency notices will be issued as reviewers go through the individual applications or sent out all as once – which could extend things even further. (As of date of this article, I have not heard of anyone getting a deficiency notice. Please let me know if you did.) It is possible we are looking at 14-18 weeks if there are applications submitted toward the end of the review period that require curing.
After all the applications have been screened, OCM will then do a second review of the approved applications focusing on the true party of interest issue. This can be done only after the first review has been completed, because OCM needs to know the final pool of applicants. We don’t know how long this second review will take, but it’s only after this review will we know who will move on to the lottery.
We can glean clues in other areas to learn about timing. OCM was recently represented in court by the Office of Attorney General in a case involving someone’s social equity verification denial. During a court hearing, OCM’s attorney informed the court that OCM does not expect to be done with application reviews by “late fall at the very earliest.” He also noted that there would be some additional steps between the final application reviews and the lottery but did not specify further.
With all of this information, we can make some educated guesses. First, it’s going to be a while before the review is completed. As of today’s date, I had not heard of anyone being notified that their application was deficient and needed curing. (Please let me know if you have.) Either OCM isn’t at that point, or everyone’s applications were spectacularly correct. Second, unlike the verification process, I suspect applicants will all hear at once whether they have made it to the second review and then to the lottery. Last, we’re just going to need to be patient. I am hopeful the lottery happens in 2024, but we’re asking OCM – a brand new agency – to take on a herculean feat.
