•HRES 163 IH 
disparities in the cannabis marketplace participation and 
to address, reverse, and repair the most egregious effects 
of the War on Drugs on communities of color, in par-
ticular to those who now hold criminal records for a sub-
stance that is now legal and regulated. 
(b) BEST PRACTICES AND STEPS.—The practices 
and steps referred to in this subsection include— 
(1) establishing licensing and application fees 
that are reasonable to cover only the costs of pro-
gram implementation and necessary regulations; 
(2) creating a system where licensing is to be 
obtained at the city or county level and should be 
based on regulations determined by the local juris-
diction that meet the State’s minimum require-
ments, which allows the community to determine the 
type and number of businesses, avoids arbitrary caps 
on licenses, and results in an industry more rep-
resentative of the local market; 
(3) in States where license caps are completely 
unavoidable, establishing local oversight and control 
of cannabis licenses by allowing local cities and mu-
nicipalities to prioritize licenses for local citizens and 
residents, especially individuals most impacted by 
the War on Drugs, by taking into account and 
prioritizing— 
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•HRES 163 IH 
(A) long-term residency within the State or 
locality; 
(B) individuals whose income is less than 
80 percent of the median household income 
within a county; 
(C) individuals who have been formerly in-
carcerated; 
(D) individuals with prior drug law viola-
tions; and 
(E) individuals living within a jurisdiction 
that is heavily policed; 
(4) adopting laws and implementing regulations 
that will allow small cultivators to thrive in the legal 
market; 
(5) creating more equitable licensing by— 
(A) eliminating broad felony restrictions 
for licensing; 
(B) focusing restrictions on entering the 
market to those, determined on a case-by-case 
basis for both licensees and employees, with 
criminal convictions that are relevant to the 
owning and operating of a business; and 
(C) prohibiting previous cannabis convic-
tions from consideration as justification for a 
denial of a license; 
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•HRES 163 IH 
(6) creating an automatic process, at no cost 
for the individual, for the expungement or sealing of 
criminal records for cannabis offenses that is inclu-
sive of individuals currently on parole or under any 
probationary agreement, for cannabis offenses; 
(7) establishing a process for resentencing per-
sons serving sentences for cannabis convictions and 
redesignating of penalties for persons previously con-
victed of cannabis-related crimes for which the pen-
alties have been reduced or removed; 
(8) eliminating suspicionless drug testing for 
nonsafety sensitive positions; 
(9) eliminating punishment or other penaliza-
tion for persons currently under parole, probation, 
or other State supervision, or released on bail await-
ing trial, for conduct otherwise allowed under State 
cannabis laws; 
(10) setting aside a percentage of the tax rev-
enue from cannabis sales to be reinvested in commu-
nities that have been most affected by cannabis ar-
rests and the drug war, which most frequently have 
been communities of color, including programs for 
job training, reentry services, expungement expenses, 
public libraries, community centers, programs and 
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•HRES 163 IH 
opportunities dedicated to youth, and health edu-
cation programs; 
(11) using a percentage of tax revenue to estab-
lish a special fund to provide small business invest-
ments to support people of color entering into the 
legal marijuana industry; 
(12) establishing cannabis regulatory and over-
sight bodies and commissions that reflect the racial, 
ethnic, economic, and gender makeup of the sur-
rounding community; 
(13) creating employment and subcontracting 
requirements for cannabis licensee in order to use 
the ancillary business activity generated by the can-
nabis industry to employ people of color; and 
(14) including provisions designating spaces for 
public consumption, either by the licensing of social 
entities or by creating these spaces. 
Æ 
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