STATE WILL DO BACKGROUND CANNABIS CHECKS FOR N.C.

National City council members last week relieved the Police Department of conducting background checks on cannabis businesses seeking permits, instead opting to have the state handle the process.

The move comes after the Department of Justice notified the city that the FBI, which typically conducts the checks, had a large backlog because of the pandemic, said Megan Gamwell, the city’s economic development specialist.

Delays could take up to a year, she added.

“DOJ’S timeframe does not align with the city’s desired schedule in approving commercial cannabis businesses. Moreover, it will delay the city’s receipt of revenue from the commercial cannabis businesses,” read a city staff report.

National City’s cannabis consultant suggested an alternative: have the Department of Cannabis Control handle the checks as they have the same prohibitions as the city.

“We felt that instead of putting a pause, we would just refer to the Department of Cannabis Control’s background checks, which had the same requirements that we have in our municipal code,” Gamwell said.

There is no guarantee the process will be faster than a year, but it could be more direct, according to the city.

“One way to look at it is that just to get approval to run the live scans is going to take a year. After that, we could make appointments to do those live scans and then wait for the live scan results,” said Gamwell. “So now, when the applicant is preliminarily approved at the local level and they apply at the state, however long the state takes to do those approvals is our new timeline.”

A live scan is a digital fingerprinting process used to perform a background check.

Under the city’s original multiphased cannabis application process, applicants must undergo an initial criminal history background check. If they pass, they would then have conducted a live scan background check with the police department. Law enforcement would then submit the report to the federal government for review. Now, if applicants pass the initial local background check, they must submit a live scan directly to the Department of Cannabis Control.

The move received mixed feelings from the public.

Jacqueline Reynoso supported the city’s direction in having the state handle live scans to “accelerate the process for much-anticipated revenue coming back for the community.” Judith Strang worried the overall background check process was not local enough and could lead to approvals from unknown applicants who “hide under that LLC designation.”

National City closed its 60-day commercial cannabis application process Thursday. The city received 15 applications and is expected to start reviewing them.

“Once Phase 1 is complete we will notify those applicants who are approved to move onto Phase 2 where we will review the evaluation criteria,” Gamwell said.

National City’s cannabis ordinance, approved in May 2021, allows for up to six commercial cannabis licenses, including two that must be reserved for local business owners and one set aside for a consumption lounge.