Speaker 2: All right. Congratulations on your title. Number 22 with.
Speaker 1: Report from City Manager Recommendation to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with the California Department of Cannabis Control to support the Long Beach Cannabis Program citywide.
Speaker 2: Looking for a motion in the circuit. Okay. Uh, Councilman Ranga, I want to speak to your motion. Okay. Councilwoman Sara, I was elevated. I had no clue. I think it's a good project, great sorrow.
Speaker 3: It's great to be able to have additional funding to support our cannabis program. Thank you.
Speaker 2: In fact, the councilman often thank you. Obviously, I support this motion. This is you know, we're not in the business of turning away resources from from the state. Obviously, we have some ambitious objectives here, particularly related to social equity and implementing that here. I'm kind of waiting to hear from the city attorney in terms of how and how you envision utilizing these resources to get there, but also support our program. City Manager, you want to give a brief back report?
Speaker 5: Yes. Emily Armstrong will be able to answer some of those questions. Emily.
Speaker 3: There. Can you guys hear me?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah. So the $3.9 million that we're going to be receiving from the DCC will actually go towards the.
Speaker 0: Overall cannabis program.
Speaker 3: So what we're looking to do is to convert the provisional licenses in the state's process to annual. And through that process, we're also looking to streamline our operations and expedite them through the process. And so we're looking to hopefully cut the application process by half and then hire some additional staff in almost every single department with these funds. So it'll be a great a great resource for the cannabis program.
Speaker 2: Fantastic. Anything else, Councilman? All right. No, thank you. I appreciate that. And obviously, we will look forward to learning more time moves on. All right. All right, Councilwoman Allen.
Speaker 0: Yeah. Just a quick question. Can you clarify one of the ways in which the software can be used and can the funds be provided to applicants to help defray the business startup expenses?
Speaker 3: So this grant in particular does have some limitations. So this grant is not related to providing direct grants to applicants. This grant, actually, we're going to be hiring staff and consultants to basically help applicants throughout the process. And it does have some limitations in terms of the funding that we can do. So this is actually going to hire staff and consultants for regulatory compliance, application processes, things like that. There is some funding that's also going to be going toward website design and technology to hopefully streamline the communications with applicants. But it cannot be spent on direct grants or loans or anything like that.
Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Right. Thank you. Let's go to public comment. Very public comment on this item.
Speaker 4: We have one member of the public, Eliot Lewis. Please begin.
Speaker 2: Did you guys hear me? We can hear him. Yeah, no, I just wanted to make some commentary in general. It's nice that we're getting some more funds. You know, the state collects 900 million in taxes. They're redistributing 100 million. Not the best system. I really wanted to focus, although I think all taxes in cannabis are too high. I really wanted to focus on the cultivation and tax. I think we should completely eliminate the cultivation tax. We have two really big brands here. We're creating great cannabis culture. We have Fresh Bake and we have Wonder Bread all across the state. The governor included up in Sacramento, they're getting rid of cannabis tax. San Francisco's got rid of all cannabis taxes. Sonoma's got rid of cultivation tax. Humboldt is right behind it. We continue to tax cultivators at the same rate. Although there's been massive price compression and they're suffering, they're barely keeping their head above water. And again, it's not about me. It's about good policy. You know, we don't like paying the retail tax, but it's really cultivation that we need to focus on. Council did a great job of modernizing the other vendors. Now we need to focus on cultivation and you know, depending on what time it is, I don't have an orthodoxy on that. I was the one retailer that came out and said, Hey, with the pandemic, we're doing really good. Let's raise taxes temporarily, half a percent. And, you know, like cause and like, you know, of the Rockies and Hershey of Pennsylvania, we're creating a great cannabis culture here. Long Beach hashtag farmers is becoming a thing, and we need to cultivate that, no pun intended. And at the end of the day, like Long Beach got put on the map from nineties, rapper Sublime, all of these different things. Cannabis culture is going to be part of that. And I think it's really important, you know, more than just the money you got, you know, jobs and everything else at stake. And I want to say that the amount collecting the cultivation tax based on our research is, you know, a very small amount, around $1,000,000. You know, we're budgeted for 8 million, we're collecting 10.3 million. And as the reforms come in at the state, I suspect I suspect that number will be more. So stop taxing farmers. We need to modernize the tax code, especially as it goes to two cultivation tax. Get rid of it altogether. We got a $3.9 million windfall and this is happening up and down the state. Let's stay progressive on the issue. Let's stay modern and let's stay up to date. I think that's all have.
Speaker 4: That concludes public comment for you.
Speaker 2: All right, members, please cast your vote as well as the roll call vote.
Speaker 1: District one.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 1: District two.
Speaker 0: I.
Speaker 1: District three.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 1: District four.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 1: District five.
Speaker 0: I.
Speaker 1: District six. I. District seven.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 1: District eight.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 1: District nine. I. Motion is carried.
Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and all necessary documents including subsequent amendments, with the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), to receive and expend grant funding in the amount of $3,934,773, to support the Long Beach Cannabis Program, for the approximate period of January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025; and

Increase appropriations in the General Grants Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $3,934,773, offset by grant revenue from DCC. (Citywide)