Alabama top stories in brief
- The city of Birmingham has allocated $345,000 in funds to develop a 5,000-square-foot facility to house tools and equipment to be rented out to community organizations working to make improvements in the city. The project is being done in partnership with ToolBank USA Inc., a national nonprofit dedicated to providing tools, equipment and expertise to communities. The new facility will be run by Magic City ToolBank, a ToolBank USA Inc. affiliate. Part of the funds given by the city will go towards employing one part time, and two full time employees for the facility.
- Varrie Johnson, an assistant to Alabama state Rep.John Rogers, D-Birmingham, has pleaded guilty to taking almost $88,000 of her deceased parents federal retirement payments. Johnson has already been indicted separately on 21 federal charges for her involvement in a federal kickback scheme for which former state Rep. Fred Plump pleaded guilty.
- The Alabama state grocery tax has now been dropped by 1% in accordance to a new law passed during this year’s legislative session. While the reduction went into effect last Friday, several customers at Walmart and Sam’s Club discovered that they were charged two separate tax rates. The retailer said customers that used a debit or credit card will receive a notification after their refund is applied, and customers that used cash can bring in their receipt to receive a refund.
- Alabama Rep. David Cole resigned after his arrest earlier this week for felony voter fraud. Cole’s arrest came after the Attorney General’s Office started investigating accusations that Cole did not live in the district that he represented. Cole has filed a plea agreement for voting in an unauthorized location.
A breakdown of Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission saga
During the 2021 legislative session, medical cannabis was legalized by the Alabama Act of 2021-450. That same act established the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission and established its authority and responsibility.
While medical cannabis was legalized in 2021, the process for giving licenses for growth, manufacturing, transportation and distribution didn’t occur until 2023. The members of the commission were selected in September of 2021, and the application process for businesses seeking a medical cannabis license opened Sept. 1, 2022 and officially closed Oct. 17, 2022.
The act that legalized medical marijuana in the state and created the commission also put a limit on the number of licenses that could be awarded in the state. The commission was given the ability to award six different types of licenses.
They could award four processor licenses, four dispensary licenses, five integrated facility licenses, 12 cultivator licenses and an unspecified number of secure transport and state testing laboratory licenses.
The commission received a total of 94 applications and found 90 of them to be properly submitted. Applicants were put through a scoring process led by evaluators brought together by the University of Alabama in Mobile.
This scoring process is where the problems for the commission started up.
Something to keep in mind with this process is that the awarding and issuing of licenses are two separate things. After licenses are awarded, companies still have to complete other processes and pay the appropriate fees. So, while licenses have now been awarded to companies twice, none have actually been issued so far.
The commission awarded a total of 21 medical cannabis business licenses on June 16, 2023 then, only three days later, the commission voted to stay all proceedings related to the licensing process. In a press release, the commission cited inconsistencies in the scoring data provided to them.
Soon after, Alabama Always LLC, one of the companies not awarded a license during this process, sued the AMCC.
The lawsuit cited concerns over the use of third-party evaluators to score applicants and had concerns over the fact that deliberations were held behind closed doors instead of in public. The Montgomery Circuit Court issued a stay that reinforced the commission’s decision to halt their process.
The commission brought on the accounting firm KPMG to review their process. Errors were discovered by the accounting firm, and the commission said they reevaluated licenses after the errors were corrected.
The AMCC awarded licenses again on Aug. 10. All of the companies who had previously received licenses were once again awarded licenses, with the exception of Verano, a Chicago-based company. Several new companies were awarded licenses as well.
This led to Verano suing the commission. According to Verano, the commission had superseded its authority by revoking the previously awarded license.
Verano wasn’t the only company to sue the commission after the Aug. 10 meeting. Alabama Always, who were not awarded a license, sued the AMCC again. This time for violating the state’s Open Meeting Act. The commission met privately during their Aug. 10 meeting to discuss before they held the part of the meeting where they publicly voted to award licenses.
Alabama Always’s lawsuit alleges that the commission privately nominated companies for the votes that they would receive publicly.
On Aug. 28, Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the AMCC starting the licensing process. On Aug. 31, the AMCC officially voted to delay granting licenses.
A hearing for the commission’s alleged violation is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Our articles you might have missed
- In last week’s Roundup, we covered the reports of an incarcerated man gaining access to a firearm while in Donaldson Correctional Facility, and how the situation was reportedly defused by other incarcerated individuals.
- In the latest installation of The Breathing Room, “How to be a better friend,” Editor Hannah Irvin discusses the importance of building solid friendships, and gives advice to help be a better friend to those you love.
Announcements
We’ve officially launched our new, easy-to-use event calendar for local Alabama events! You can view the calendar on our website. Anyone is welcome to submit events, from music festivals to garage sales, we want to build community across the state by connecting people to events.
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