§ 115 — Registration of dispensing organizations

(a) The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation may issue up to 60 dispensing organization registrations for operation. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation may not issue less than the 60 registrations if there are qualified applicants who have applied with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The organizations shall be geographically dispersed throughout the State to allow all registered qualifying patients reasonable proximity and access to a dispensing organization. (a-5) The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall adopt rules to create a registration process for Social Equity Justice Involved Applicants and Qualifying Applicants, a streamlined application, and a Social Equity Justice Involved Medical Lottery under Section 115.5 to issue the remaining available 5 dispensing organization registrations for operation. For purposes of this Section: "Disproportionately Impacted Area" means a census tract or comparable geographic area that satisfies the following criteria as determined by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, that: (1) meets at least one of the following criteria: (A) the area has a poverty rate of at least 20% according to the latest federal decennial census; or (B) 75% or more of the children in the area participate in the federal free lunch program according to reported statistics from the State Board of Education; or (C) at least 20% of the households in the area receive assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; or (D) the area has an average unemployment rate, as determined by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, that is more than 120% of the national unemployment average, as determined by the United States Department of Labor, for a period of at least 2 consecutive calendar years preceding the date of the application; and (2) has high rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration related to sale, possession, use, cultivation, manufacture, or transport of cannabis. "Qualifying Applicant" means an applicant that: (i) submitted an application pursuant to Section 15-30 of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act that received at least 85% of 250 application points available under Section 15-30 of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act as the applicant's final score; (ii) received points at the conclusion of the scoring process for meeting the definition of a "Social Equity Applicant" as set forth under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act; and (iii) is an applicant that did not receive a Conditional Adult Use Dispensing Organization License through a Qualifying Applicant Lottery pursuant to Section 15-35 of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act or any Tied Applicant Lottery conducted under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. "Social Equity Justice Involved Applicant" means an applicant that is an Illinois resident and one of the following: (1) an applicant with at least 51% ownership and control by one or more individuals who have resided for at least 5 of the preceding 10 years in a Disproportionately Impacted Area; (2) an applicant with at least 51% of ownership and control by one or more individuals who have been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for any offense that is eligible for expungement under subsection (i) of Section 5.2 of the Criminal Identification Act; or (3) an applicant with at least 51% ownership and control by one or more members of an impacted family. (b) A dispensing organization may only operate if it has been issued a registration from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall adopt rules establishing the procedures for applicants for dispensing organizations. (c) When applying for a dispensing organization registration, the applicant shall submit, at a minimum, the following in accordance with Department of Financial and Professional Regulation rules: (1) a non-refundable application fee established by rule; (2) the proposed legal name of the dispensing organization; (3) the proposed physical address of the dispensing organization; (4) the name, address, and date of birth of each principal officer and board member of the dispensing organization, provided that all those individuals shall be at least 21 years of age; (5) (blank); (6) (blank); and (7) (blank). (d) The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall conduct a background check of the prospective dispensing organization agents in order to carry out this Section. The Department of State Police shall charge a fee for conducting the criminal history record check, which shall be deposited in the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual cost of the record check. Each person applying as a dispensing organization agent shall submit a full set of fingerprints to the Department of State Police for the purpose of obtaining a State and federal criminal records check. These fingerprints shall be checked against the fingerprint records now and hereafter, to the extent allowed by law, filed in the Department of State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records databases. The Department of State Police shall furnish, following positive identification, all Illinois conviction information to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. (e) A dispensing organization must pay a registration fee set by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. (f) An application for a medical cannabis dispensing organization registration must be denied if any of the following conditions are met: (1) the applicant failed to submit the materials required by this Section, including if the applicant's plans do not satisfy the security, oversight, or recordkeeping rules issued by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; (2) the applicant would not be in compliance with local zoning rules issued in accordance with Section 140; (3) the applicant does not meet the requirements of Section 130; (4) one or more of the prospective principal officers or board members has been convicted of an excluded offense; (5) one or more of the prospective principal officers or board members has served as a principal officer or board member for a registered medical cannabis dispensing organization that has had its registration revoked; and (6) one or more of the principal officers or board members is under 21 years of age.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 101-363, eff. 8-9-19; 102-98, eff. 7-15-21.)