The Maryland Office of Social Equity (OSE) is an office within the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA). Its purpose is to promote and encourage participation in the regulated cannabis industry by communities that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition and enforcement. Last week, the OSE posted draft regulations concerning the OSE’s Social Equity Partnership Grant Program (SEPP), which seeks to promote business partnerships between operational cannabis licensees and social equity licensees.
Among other things, the draft regulations propose a mandatory dispute resolution process for disputes between SEPP partners. The process would require partnerships to submit a complaint to the OSE, which may rule on the complaint or may refer it to the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings for mandatory mediation. If the OSE takes up the complaint and determines that a licensee has breached its partnership agreement, the OSE may restrict, revoke, or invalidate the partnership agreement, or it may require the operational licensee to repay any grant funding it has received.
The draft regulations are available for public comment until January 6, 2025.
References: