Denver City Council will soon vote on three bills. But a date has yet to be set. On March 16, the city’s Finance and Governance Committee passed all three bills. The bills would allow cannabis delivery, hospitality businesses, and on-site smoking. Read the original article here.

“We are going to propose, as a city, that we safely opt-in to some of these new license types that the state has created,” said Ashley Kilroy, the director of Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses, 9NEWS reported.

Since 2016 there has been a license cap on new stores and facilities. Kilroy said the city is urging to lift this cap.

In the beginning, the only people that would be able to gain a cannabis delivery license are social equity applicants. This would hold until 2024. Permits for hospitality businesses, stores, transports, cultivation, and manufacturing are limited to social equity applicants until 2027.

The bills are an effort to make Denver’s cannabis industry more inclusive and diverse. To qualify as a social equity applicant for cannabis delivery, the resident must have never had their license revoked, and one of the following must apply:

• Applicant lived in an opportunity zone or a disproportionately impacted area between 1980 and 2010.
• An application or immediate family member received conviction, arrest, or suffered civil asset forfeiture due to a cannabis offense.
• Applicant’s household income did not exceed 50% of the state median income.

The state did create an exemption that would allow people to smoke or vape cannabis indoors and at hospitality establishments. This caused a debate with stakeholders and some anti-smoking organizations disagree with allowing it indoors. Noting that it raises a worker’s safety concern.

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