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Ordinance Amendment No. 2022-01 - Commercial Cannabis Regulatory and Tax <br />Updates <br />September 20, 2022 <br />Page 13 <br />2 <br />5 <br />0 <br />8 <br />Community Benefits, Sustainable Business Practices, and Social Equity <br />In response to recommendations from the OCGJ investigative report and industry <br />feedback, the City is also proposing modifications to its community benefit and <br />sustainable business practice requirements that would clarify and streamline obligations, <br />options, and reporting. The proposed amendments would sunset the requirement for <br />individual operating agreements but would require all commercial cannabis businesses <br />to maintain a community benefit and sustainable business practices plan on file with the <br />City. <br />Staff met with a focused group of industry representatives on April 21, 2022 to obtain <br />insight on the proposed code amendments. Representatives recommended modifications <br />to the required community benefits and sustainable business practices to reflect current <br />labor trends and industry practices. In addition, representatives expressed a desire to <br />standardize reporting to the City. Because of this meeting, staff tailored community benefit <br />and sustainable business practice options in the proposed ordinance to address the <br />concerns brought up by the industry representatives. <br />All commercial cannabis businesses will be required to report community benefit and <br />sustainable business practice obligations twice a year as a condition of maintaining the <br />regulatory safety permit in good standing and as a condition of their annual renewal. The <br />annual reporting will require descriptions of the following components: <br />1. Action – a thorough breakdown of all stated commitments/obligations and the actions <br />taken by the business to satisfy the required commitments/obligations. <br />2. Value – A detailed, quantitative description of the value of the <br />commitments/obligations, either as money spent or time/resources committed by the <br />business and its staff. <br />3. Community Benefit Value – A qualitative description of the resulting value of the <br />commitments/obligations’ quantitative impacts, otherwise known as the “local <br />multiplier effect” when one dollar is spent locally. <br />4. Local Engagement – A detailed narrative of engagement by business owners with <br />local organizations, community groups, and civic/government organizations. <br />Examples include coordination with the City’s Economic Development Division, the <br />Santa Ana WORK Center, job fairs, local educational institutions’ skills training, and <br />local community and not-for-profit organizations. <br />A component of the ordinance requires that all commercial cannabis businesses <br />operating in the City provide community benefits through a Community Benefits, <br />Sustainable Business Practices, and Social Equity Plan (“Plan”) that promotes health and <br />sustainability of the community in a format acceptable by the Executive Director of the <br />Planning and Building Agency as reviewed and verified from time to time as a component <br />of issuance of an annual regulatory safety permit. Obligations to satisfy the Plan’s