More Info Emerges on Amnesty Program for Washington Marijuana Licensees

We recently wrote about the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board’s consideration of a marijuana licensee amnesty program for licensees with undisclosed true parties of interest a couple of weeks ago. In that post, though we criticized the WSLCB for not doing more to put marijuana licensees in a position to succeed, we didn’t have much to say about the amnesty program itself. Other than the fact that the board was discussing offering leniency to companies with undisclosed true parties of interest, not many other details had emerged.

Since then, a few more details have emerged, including a draft notice to Washington marijuana stakeholders announcing the program. It is important to note that as of the writing of this post, the leniency/amnesty program has not yet been finalized, and details are subject to change. That said, here is what is proposed so far:

The program is targeted at licensees that have owners or financiers that have not been disclosed to or approved by the WSLCB. Applications for amnesty/leniency will be denied when:

1. Owners do not reside in Washington;
2. Financiers are not U.S. residents;
3. Owners or financiers have disqualifying criminal history;
4. Licensees are currently under investigation for hidden ownership;
5. Entity and/or principal within entity exceeds marijuana licenses allowed; or
6. Entity and/or principal has interest in cross-tiered marijuana licensee (can’t own both a retailer and a producer/processor).

Licensees will have one month, starting as early as August 1, to apply to the WSLCB on a form provided by the WSLCB for the leniency program. Once the WSLCB receives the form and contacts the licensee there will be a seven day period to complete the initial interview and another fourteen day period to provide all required documentation for all prior undisclosed true parties of interest or financiers.

The WSLCB defines ownership broadly. A legal owner of any shares or membership interest in a licensed business counts, but so do many other business relationships. The WSLCB currently mandates that spouses, even for marriages after initial licensing, be disclosed and vetted by the WSLCB. They also consider anyone who has the right to receive any percentage of the gross or net profits from a licensed business. The WSLCB still tells licensees that any payment of sales commissions to sales agents violates true party of interest rules, despite an administrative law judge ruling otherwise and the WSLCB signing off on that ruling a couple of years ago. Trademark licenses and consulting agreements can create ownership. The WSLCB has still not engaged in substantive rulemaking to implement RCW 69.50.395 that specifically allows for trademark licenses. Instead, they have developed an ad hoc approval process for trademark agreements, where non-attorneys at the WSLCB make judgment calls about whether standard trademark license provisions do or do not create the type of “control” that would render someone a true party of interest under WAC 314-55-035.

Our experience makes us think that there are a lot of marijuana businesses that have hidden ownership problems. The majority of them are not bad actors – they are simply people who either don’t understand that an agreement they signed technically creates an ownership interest as the WSLCB sees it or they have done things in the wrong order, transferring ownership before receiving WSLCB approval. So it is welcome that the WSLCB is moving along on potentially offering amnesty/leniency to the these businesses instead of shutting them down. While that doesn’t fix many of the underlying issues that we have been pointing out, it is still a band-aid that will prevent catastrophe for companies smart enough to take advantage of it.

We’ll post again as soon as we get word that this program is due to go live. In the meantime, check out the following for some recent thoughts on WSLCB program administration and enforcement.