engaged in this process. so first i want to thank our esteemed guests today. we have treasury fiona mah. we have state senator scott weiner and senior advisor to the governor, nicole eliot, and i will briefly read their bios for you and then we are going to sort of jump into it. i know we have about an hour. i want to make sure that we use our time wisely. i'm marissa rodriguez, the director of the office of cannabis. we also have eugene hillsman, deputy director of the office of cannabis and jeremy schwartz who is a permanent analyst with the office of cannabis as well. so fiona mah was elected to serve as california's 34th state's treasurer. the state treasurer's office provides financing for schools, roads, housing and other critical infrastructure projects that better the lives of

californians. previously treasurer mah was a member of the state assembly from 2006 to 2012 and prior to serving there, the treasurer served on the san francisco board of supervisors from 2002 to 2006, representing district 4. thank you, treasurer mah for being here. it's so nice to have you and it's so nice to have one of our own as everyone on this call today. so if you'd like to take this time to share with our community your thoughts on what's happening right now and any support for the cannabis community that you'd like to share. >> sure. can you hear me? >> -- our own, everyone on this call today. so if you'd like -- take this

time to share with our community your thoughts on what's happening right now and any support for the cannabis community that you'd like to share. >> sure. can you hear and see me? >> i can. thank you. >> all right. there i am. thank you, marissa, for pulling us all together and for everyone who's on the call who has been staying in touch and keeping in touch and very, very frustrated during this time where the federal government is helping most everybody else except if you're in the cannabis industry, which is not very fair, as we all know. over a year ago i testified in congress on the bill, the safe banking act as some of you remember. it finally did have a hearing earlier. i think it was -- was it when the democrats took over congress again and it got through the lower house, but it is, once

again, stuck in the senate. i know that some have been trying to get cannabis in some of the stimulus packages or assistance, however, because cannabis is still a schedule 1 drug, they are not eligible for many of the assistive programs that are coming out of the federal government. however, california is a little different, as we all know. not only in california can you deduct your ordinary and necessary business expenses against your income, unlike at the federal level, but we have really tried to move this industry forward the best that we can, at least here in california. so many of you, all of you, should be paying your tax, your sales taxings to the california department of fee administration. there was a 90-day deferral on

paying and filing your first quarter sales tax return. in addition, if you do need working capital, you may qualify to take a $50,000 loan and defer payment on a year. your annual sales revenues have to be less than $5 million, so that may not pertain to some of the bigger companies, but some of the smaller companies may be able to take advantage of this. and you need to call the california department of tax and fee administration and register for this program. again, it is interest free, $50,000 loan for up to a year, and you need to call sdtfa to figure out and sign up for their instalment plan. so unfortunately that's kind of the only program that is related

to some sort of relief for the cannabis industry. the i-bank also has put money into a loan loss reserve for [indiscernible] however, the only way you will be eligible for that money is if your bank is accepting cannabis clients, and i know there's probably close to two dozen banks now in california that have legally applied to take cannabis clients on, so you all know who you are out there. but definitely check your -- the ibank.ca.gov and see whether your participating lender participates in that and you may be eligible and qualify to get certain loans from the i-bank. so that's about all i have to report right now, and i will be here for the duration to answer any questions you may all have. >> thank you, fiona. we certainly appreciate your leadership, your unwavering

support of the cannabis industry. you were instrumental in this webinar happening, so i thank you for that. we are live here at the emergency operating center for the city as we put this webinar out to our community. again thank you everyone for tuning in. next we have our senator, state senator scott weiner who was elected in november 2016, senator scott weiner represents district 11 in the california state senate. district 11 includes all of san francisco, broadmoor, daily city and portions of south san francisco. the senator helped to champion compassionate cannabis care programs by introducing senate bill 34 which was approved by the governor in 2019. prior to his election to the state senate, he served on the board of supervisors representing district 8. thank you and happy to have you on the call, senator.

>> thank you very much for -- excuse me, for having me, and hello remotely to treasurer ma and to nicole. and hello, i'm sorry to be here by phone, but i hope you can hear me okay. hello to the entire cannabis community. we're going through some really hard times right now as a community, and we all need to look to the light at the end of the tunnel. we are going to get through this, and our goal needs to be that when we do get through it we can get both individuals and businesses back up on their feet, and so a lot of the work that we're doing right now is just to try to preserve the status quo, to keep renters stable in their homes so we don't have mass evictions, either now or after the worst of the emergency when people have

massive back rents that they are expected to pay right away. we don't want that. we want to make sure that we're stabilizing people, and we want to make sure that we're stabilizing businesses in their spaces, and non-profits, so that we don't see permanent mass closure of small businesses and non-profits, and so we're working on a few pieces of legislation. on the residential side i'm working with someone on legislation to protect renters and i'm also offering legislation that's 939 to try to stabilize small businesses and non-profits in their retail and office spaces by saying no moratoriums -- or no evictions, and we're going to have to deal with how we look at back rent. and then we're going to have to particularly for hospitality businesses, like restaurants and bars, that when they do reopen we will be required legally to have much lower capacity so that

their business model no longer matches up with the rent in their lease, and we're going to need to address that as well. so we are working on these issues. specific to cannabis, we all advocated successfully in san francisco, and i know in other places it happened -- not everywhere -- to classify cannabis as an essential business, and that was a real win. and i'm glad that it happened. but i know that the industry is really struggling right now, like all small businesses are. and in particular not being eligible for the federal small business loan, forgivable loan program. i know that's a huge hit and just one more example of the irrationality of our federal

law. can't get any of these benefits. it's not okay. in terms of the legislature this year, we are going back into session. we've been in recess for about six weeks due to the pandemic. the assembly returns to session on monday. the senate returns the following monday, on may 11, and we will be pursuing a more limited policy agenda this year around covid-19, of course, but also around some of the highest priority areas, like housing and homelessness and mental health, addiction, wildfires and so forth. and so we're all reducing the number of bills that we have and making them much more focused. i don't know that this year is going to be a big year for cannabis. i know there are some bills that have been introduced, and i'm sure that some things will

happen, but i was hoping that this year we would be able to, you know, finally pass the tax reductions, you know, the tax -- the state taxes are too high and are i think really stifling the industry and encouraging the elicit market. so that's something we have to address. weren't able to get it done last year. and then we have to deal with the issues of cities just effectively banning cannabis, and big swaths of california where it's effectively illegal, and so -- but i'm not confident that either of those are going to get resolved this year because just of everything that's happening. but stay tuned. we'll keep working, and again, thank you to everyone for all you do. >> thank you, senator. we really appreciate that, and we certainly appreciate your continued support of the industry as well.

certainly difficult times, unprecedented times. there is no one who's immune to this, and we certainly appreciate that, and also appreciate the fact that we are deemed essential during these times. but you know, still, there's a huge impact and we want to see what ways and how we can support the industry to get through this. so thank you and we appreciate having you on this call. next we have senior advisor on cannabis to the governor, nicole eliot. we know nicole very well, and we are so appreciative that you could take this call today. ms. eliot serves as governor's senior advisor on cannabis. prior to her current post, she was appointed san francisco's first director of the san francisco office of cannabis where she helped to set up cannabis's regulatory framework and permitting process. she has worked in a number of capacities with city and county -- with the city and county of san francisco, including stints as a deputy board liaison and director of

legislative and government affairs in the mayor's administration. thank you for being here. this community really values you and appreciates that you are willing to talk to us during these hard times. >> sure, always happy to have these conversations, and really happy to be back with my bay area family. thank you for putting this together and for treasurer ma as well, for facilitating the creation of this. a lot has happened since i've left. first and foremost, i had a baby. >> congratulations. >> thank you! my first day back was the first week of the shutdown, so it's been a really interesting transition back to the work environment, but we really hit the ground running starting with obviously deeming cannabis -- commercial cannabis as essential for the state of california, and

since then have really been working with our licensing agencies, our partner agencies, like the treasurer, like cdtfa and others in trying to determine what we can do within the current framework and our current constraints to provide support for the industry, whether that be from a tax relief standpoint, which the treasurer really outlined in her opening comments, as well as from regulatory standpoint, and i'm sure some of you are very familiar with some of the regulatory relief that has been extended by your licensing agencies. so trying to figure out what we can do to be as helpful as we can sort of in the immediate term and figuring out what we can do in the long term to support what will be recovery, but i will quote the governor when i say that these are very sobering and challenging times. we started this year with a multi-billion dollar surplus, and as he stated in his press

conference today, we will enter the may revised with multi-billion, tens of billions of dollars to cuts. so it's a tough time for everyone. i think senator wiener really expressed the challenges that the legislature will be faced with when working through the budget, that there are a lot of priorities that we really sought to tackle this year, and on the cannabis side you guys are all familiar with those priorities, tax simplification. the governor clearly indicated a willingness to talk about the structure of tax and whether or not there should be a reduction, either permanently or temporarily, as well as consolidation. and so that's all being impacted by the environment that we find ourselves in now. so i look forward to addressing your guys's questions today. again, i'm really happy to be here and happy to chat with you guys, and of course this is

always an ongoing conversation. >> thank you, ms. elliot. i appreciate that. i want to jump in because i want to be cognizant of time here. i want to let folks know that, one, first of all, thank you for emailing in with your questions. they are really thoughtful, and they -- they are thoughtful and they span a lot of different categories, and so we broke them down by way of taxes, regulatory structure, compassion, unregulated market, the pandemic and banking. we have some general questions, we have some local questions. because i have the privilege of being able to be in touch with our community more regularly, i will leave the local questions to the end. if we have time, we will address them. otherwise we will send them out in a response separately. but we are going to start now, and the members of our team will take each section and questions

just to keep it a little bit more lively so you're not just listening to me the entire time. again, we are reporting -- we are live here from the emergency operating center here in san francisco where city employees in san francisco are keeping the lights on during this unprecedented time. and i'd like to start with the first question, and all three of you, feel free to answer this one. with the current lack of banking, covid relief opportunities for the cannabis industry are severely limited at the federal, state and local levels. while we recognize the legislature is tasked with the economic health of california, we would like you to talk about efforts under way by the legislature that would specifically address economic relief for the cannabis industry and the likelihood of those efforts being realized in the short term. we'll start with the first section of this question, which is what is being done at the state level to move forward equality for cannabis businesses, specifically in regards to access to covid stimulus relief, lowering the

overall tax burden, access to banking, and market rate commercial loans? and i know that the three of you did touch on some of this in your opening remarks, but if you could again just kind of share with our community just your thoughts and your feelings on this point. we can start with fiona ma -- pardon me, treasurer ma. >> that's okay, call me fiona. anyway, as you know, this has been a big priority for me, trying to get banking access since i was on the state board of equalization. i'm glad to report that there are more and more banks that are willing to take on cannabis-related clients. of course they want to maintain some sort of balance, so many of them will have a certain amount of cultivators, distributors, maybe put folks in test, and they are also looking for other private equity folks who are investing. so they really wanted to

diversify their portfolio and risk a little more, but every day more and more banks are willing and open to taking more cannabis clients. but it is slow, and i think this covid-19 crisis has shown how important it is, right, with all of the social distancing and not wanting to touch surfaces, that dealing in cash is more and more probably even maybe a contributor to the covid-19 spreading. so i think folks are realizing that it is so important that we try to bank this industry as soon as possible. however, we are still always stuck in the senate because the senate is republican controlled, and that is going to be the first step in november, if we really want to see changes to cannabis, we all need to figure out how to, you know, take back

the senate in november. >> thank you, fiona. with that, does anyone else want to respond? >> well, i'll speak to a couple of those points. obviously on the federal advocacy side, our federal liaisons are doing quite a bit as behind-the-scenes advocacy in d.c. around the stimulus funding to try to get cannabis involved in that and supporting the efforts of, you know, certain representatives who are pushing clarity via bills to incorporate cannabis as well. to the treasurer's point, it is a big challenge to get the senate there, but we've seen a number of senators engage, including our state senator, kamala harris, our state senator, i should say, and kamala harris, who has really engaged in that space as well. so grateful for those efforts,

but do know that we are definitely working on that in d.c. and then beyond that, on the taxes, i think, you know, obviously you heard earlier that the state has done quite a bit around taxes now, not speaking necessarily to changes to the overall cannabis tax structure, but really looking at the sales and use tax deferral, which the state, you know, believes applies to an extraordinary number of cannabis businesses if they are paying, if they are annual taxable sales, for instance, something like 77% of our retailers would likely qualify for that. so that allows for that deferral of up to $50,000 and provides a 12-month payment plan. i will note that i believe cdtfa is willing to on a case-by-case basis consider operators that have a high amount of sales, so

i think it's worth engaging cdtfa on that opportunity if you think that you are eligible or even if you feel like you might be on the cusp, do take advantage of that resource as well as you clearly now have time to file your tax via the tax extension. so to the extent that there needs to be more clarity provided to the industry on that, please do let me know because we will be happy to push out more information to you guys to make sure that all operators are taking advantage of the resources that the state is providing, that they know about it and that they are taking advantage of it where they can. and then when it comes to banks, i mean, we have an incredibly committed set of elected officials who are really clearly advocating for, you know, banks' involvement in this space. the administration is also working on that, also behind the scenes, to try and engage banks. to the treasurer's point about the small business finance

center and having support to back loans that are being given by lenders, we understand that there are not very many lenders in this space, and so we are working on trying to figure out if there are institutions that are willing to engage in that space, but as you all know, that's a challenging conversation. so do know that that work is happening behind the scenes. >> thank you so much. and where would you point folks to for information, the best place to start this process? >> so i would encourage people to visit cdtfa's website as a starting point, and again, if you guys need additional information, please do reach out so that we can make sure you guys are able to access all of those resources. >> thank you so much. and senator wiener, did you have thoughts on this as well?

perhaps the connection -- senator wiener, are you on the line still? okay, we'll work on that and get back to you. and then let's talk a little bit about, you know, the industry is ineligible for federal assistance. any talk on the state level about perhaps programs, grant assistance, that can help with economic relief in this space? >> do you want me to take that? >> sure. >> okay. so again, i think i mentioned in my early comments to level set everyone's expectations and unfortunately to be the bearer of a lot of bad news, you know, the state has set a budget -- has indicated they will be engaging in what they call a workload budget. so no new expenditures. so it is highly unlikely we will

see new programs stood up, and so when i talk to operators and to additional stakeholders in the industry, i really talk about how we can leverage existing programs. but we have a very challenged general fund, and so additional money going out is going to be very hard to come by. to be completely honest. so hence really looking at working within our existing framework, things like what cdtfa has done around tax deferral. i know there have been conversations about licensing fees, on where we as a state have capital and how we can get creative with that capital that already exists. but it will be a challenge to put out an additional program. i'll just be very transparent and honest about that, while still flagging that those are ongoing conversations. >> thank you so much. no, we appreciate the honesty. that's why we're here and we want to engage in this conversation. and with that, thank you. we'll move now to a different

topic. the unregulated market. >> sure. one of the things that a number of our operators have been interested in is around additional conversations about the state's plan to give legal businesses a chance to really compete against an illicit market that still controls a significant portion of the cannabis market. can you discuss existing state enforcement efforts and how the pandemic might impact proposed efforts? we can start with senior advisor elliott. >> sure. so existing state enforcement efforts i think we're quite transparent last year the governor outlined multiple pillars for his priorities. enforcement is one of those, and there was a stronger effort to coordinate enforcement across a number of agencies, and i mean a number.

it's a large amount. to really get at the issue of the illegal market, the informal market. and so that effort will continue this year. i think our challenge will be how we do that effort within this new work construct, but that is a challenge that we are wholeheartedly embracing, as well as of course there's dollars within our budget to put towards enforcement that includes funding that will go out through the bscc, to local jurisdictions to support local enforcement efforts, and also to our department of fish and wildlife to support efforts on the rural cultivation side. but i think it's -- the governor has made it very clear, enforcement is a top priority, thoughtful enforcement is a top priority, and so that will be something we continue to pursue and coordinate this year.

>> thank you very much. and now we're going to talk a little bit about compassion. >> jeremy schwartz here. thank you, treasurer, ms. elliott, senator wiener if you're still there for making yourselves available. i would like to acknowledge that in getting sportsnet bill 34 across the finish line regarding compassion programs and tax savings, to that point, i'll share an anecdote which is pretty shared amongst some of the inquiries we received. so this gentleman said "i'm renewing my medical cannabis recommendation with my physician on may 1. however, i'm unable to renew my state medical cannabis id card because san francisco department of public health card office is closed during this shelter in place. is there a way that the state of california could temporarily

amend its regulations or otherwise allow medical cannabis i.d.s to not expire in the coming weeks with the understanding that i believe the state vital records office is closed?" so i know that was a mouthful, but any sense about the medical marijuana i.d. card program? >> well, i would just jump in that governor newsom has a press conference every noon called newsom at noon, and he takes this opportunity to talk about executive orders. i do think he has been exercising a lot of his powers in this covid-19 pandemic, and certainly i think if the industry gets together -- like, this is the first time i heard that there was an issue about renewing your medical cannabis card, that this is certainly

something that should be on his radar. but you all have to -- and this is why we're on this webinar here today, is to really hear some of the day-to-day inconveniences or barriers that you all have. but certainly that is a good point. i know i oversee affordable housing, and there is a process called tefra hearings that needs to be done every year, and a number of them were expiring, but unfortunately tefra hearings are mandated under the irs code, so the governor cannot do an executive order to overturn the irs, so i've been lobbying the irs to try to get them to extend the tefra expiration or hearing process because many of the local governments are closed, like you said, and therefore they are putting in jeopardy a lot of the affordable housing projects that are trying to continue to move through the process. so we are facing this type of, you know, issues when

governments close and we still need to get certain things done. you know, what is it that government or the state government can help with. >> excellent. thank you, treasurer. ms. elliott, do you have anything to add? >> i'll just add, i mean, i think this -- you know, i want to give credit to the treasurer for setting up this conversation. she's totally spot on, that these are the types of forums that really allow for these types of challenges to be lifted up and brought to the attention of the state. and that was something that was brought to my attention yesterday. so we are running that down and hope to have an update, but we're definitely looking into it. >> thank you, kindly. >> and this is scott, i apologize, i had to jump off for something, but i'm back. >> thank you so much. and i don't know if you were able to hear the last question. if you'd like to chime in, happy to, or we can keep moving forward. >> your call. i didn't hear the question, but whatever makes sense for you.

>> no, that's fine. we'll keep moving forward. thank you so much. we saw the california department of alcohol beverage control mobilize quickly to provide unprecedented relief for their licensees by issuing sweeping industry-wide relief. to date, they have issued three significant regulatory relief packages, including the extension of licensing fees. conversely, cannabis licensees seeking relief must individually request relief and oftentimes each business has to request the same relief every 30 days. can you speak to efforts under way that would streamline and expand associated relief and associated timelines for implementation? >> so i'm happy to speak to that. the fee deferral program is based on fees that are shocking to the industry, not as high as your fees, and they have the ability as a long-standing department or agency to weather the financial storm of fee

deferrals. so it is not lost on us that that is a request of the industry. that is something we are looking into, but it does take quite a bit of analysis to understand whether or not that's something that the state can sustain, because we are working with a finite set of resources, and those resources support the work of these agencies and the legitimacy of this market. so do know that that is definitely something that we are looking into, but the abc's process is slightly different than the three licensing agency process. it's a bit more challenging, as you all know. >> right. thank you so much. thank you for speaking to that. and fee deferrals, any thoughts on deferrals? >> are you asking me that? >> yeah, just as a follow-up. >> so that's exactly what i was speaking to. >> okay, yeah. okay. thank you. and i don't know if treasurer ma or the senator would like to

speak to that as well. >> well, i would just say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as we have seen in the last ppp stimulus package, a lot of the small business owners did not get any assistance, and there was a lot of folks who, you know, called their congressperson, their senators, and then now in the latest ppp round of stimulus money, they are really -- the banks are really focused on small businesses because they didn't have the chance last time because of the way the system was set up, because everything was done so quickly. so i would just say, you know, keep advocating. reach out to your assembly members, your senators, obviously san francisco is really small, so we know who they are. and of course the governor's office, nicole, myself, so that when these issues come up we can also chime in that this was an industry that also needs to be

supported during this time. >> thank you for that. eugene? >> sure. we know that there was a previous announcement regarding the pre-existing cannabis state licensing agencies. question: do you anticipate that the consolidation of those licensing authorities will proceed as planned? and if not, how will that affect the kind of general com lines associated regulatory change to improve efficiency? and anyone who has some additional knowledge about that can provide some feedback. >> so i know that the senator talked through some of the legislative challenges and framework that he'll be working through during the budget, and that the consolidation was proposed in the governor's january budget. that conversation is happening in real time. we have a may revised coming out soon, so i don't have any news

to break on that, but i will say this: we all know that there is a lot of work to do on the stateside around streamlining, and a lot of that work can be done administratively and will be done administratively. so if that moves forward this year, then there will be a lot of work to do. if it does not move forward this year, i know that this is a concept that the governor is very committed to, and there will be a lot of work to do. so regardless of what happens, i do think that simplification and streamlining in some form will be on our agenda for this year. whether or not that's in the form of consolidation in statutory language by july 1, 2020 or july 1, 2021. so i'll leave it at that. >> and i'm sorry, could you repeat that question? my phone was cutting out. i'm having quite a day with my phone. >> sure. the question was about the

governor's announcement about the consolidation of the state licensing agencies and whether the pandemic would impact the timelines and what are other opportunities to increase efficiencies at the state level. >> oh, yeah, that sounds like more of a nicole question. i think we're all always taking a look at how we can make life easier for people with various regulatory agencies that they have to deal with. i just cannot speak for this year because everything is in such tumult right now. the administration is truly drinking water from a fire hose on covid, and it's just -- it's too hard to predict what else will happen this year. >> and i'll just add to that, as far as opportunities, i think what i was trying to communicate, and i hope i communicated, but i will be very direct, there is a lot of opportunity space here. we all know that, and we intend

to pursue that opportunity space, whether that's done statutorily, regulatorily or administratively. it will be pursued. >> excellent, thank you. and, eugene, if you would -- i think the unregulated market, perhaps we can shift the conversation in that direction for a moment. >> sure. so you know, we talked a little bit about kind of what the potential actions at the state level and how they might impact kind of operators and the existing resources that will continue to be dedicated to fighting enforcement, and we talked a little bit, i believe senator wiener mentioned the possibility for kind of new legislation was unlikely, but there was a specific question about the jones foyer and rubio bills and what the prospects of

them passing this legislative cycle. >> i don't know -- if scott's still on, but i know the assemble is going to go back into session next week, and the senate is supposed to go back the following week. as i understand, they are really going to focus on the budget and covid-related legislation. so we're not really sure what -- legislation will move forward. scott, are you back on? >> yeah, i am. yes, so there -- i can't tell if there's going to be differences in the assembly. in the senate it's been made very clear to us we're not limited to only covid-specific bills. we have some covid-specific bills and obviously the budget is a high priority, as bloody and terrible as it's going to

be, but there are other non-covid areas where we'll be able to do work. and i think i mentioned those earlier on around housing, homelessness, wildfires, et cetera. the assembly is being -- it has been much more putting everything on the committee chairs so they can hear what they want to hear and prioritize how they want to prioritize. and so those bills, those are enforcement bills. i don't know whether under normal circumstances they would have political support to move forward. i am -- i assume those go to assembly public safety or maybe to assembly judiciary. i don't know how the chairs of those committees are viewing this, so it's very unclear whether those bills will move

forward. >> then again, this is democracy, and the legislators are coming back, so i would encourage you to, you know, continue to advocate on behalf of the important bills that you think are gonna move through right now. obviously not all the bills are gonna continue, but if you all as an industry can get together and prioritize, you know, these are the top three bills that we want to see, then it will have a higher chance instead of everybody just trying to, you know, support 5,000 bills. i mean, clearly 5,000 bills are not going to go through this year. >> we appreciate that, certainly. thank you so much. >> just to give you a sense, you know, i have -- and we -- and the senate, we're not like capping members bills, like you can only two five bills or four bills or seven bills or whatever, but we have been, you know, asked to really self-edit and to move bills that are in

very high priority areas, that are time sensitive, and so forth. and so i have jettisoned a majority of my bills, and these are some bills that i'm super-passionate about, and many of them i will reintroduce next year. but we have to be selective in what we move forward. we will have less legislative time, more focus on covid, and you know, it's going to be -- our proceedings are going to be clunky. like in the senate we're allowing remote participation. it makes things a little bit slower. so it's not going to be the -- as fluid and easy as previous sessions, so that's why we're really narrowing the number of bills. >> thank you very much. jeremy? >> jeremy schwartz here. so reverting back to banking, certainly an exciting

development regarding the $50,000 -- the potential for up to $50,000 for a bridge loan. treasurer ma certainly touched on increased operators perhaps providing some banking services, whether they are pilot programs initiated by credit unions. folks are wondering what this group feels is probably one of the most viable pathways forward for access to mainstream banking, whether it is a public banking option, federal intervention or other mechanism. >> well, i think during this time, you know, individual banks, as i mentioned, more and more are coming on-line, and many of them do have capacity. obviously they want those customers who have had, you know, a good track record, have been filing all their taxes, have all their permits in place.

that's the easiest way for folks to get a bank account in this new environment, and it is not easy because they do do an extensive background check, and if there's anything in your history, it may kick you out of, you know, their vetting system. so i would just encourage you to talk to your bankers, talk to other members in the industry who may have bank accounts. there's no list published. people, you know, still are being cautious in terms of how many accounts that they take, but clearly the industry is definitely moving toward opening up banking access for more cannabis companies. >> and i concur with that. i mean, i think if you're looking for the most expeditious pathway, it is really following the advice of our treasurer and trying to establish those relationships with banks that

will learn to trust you as operators but also will want to look into every nook and cranny, just like your regulators do when they review your licenses, your applications. so being transparent on that front hopefully will at least establish a banking relationship, understanding that lending is a bigger challenge in these economic times. you know, the federal government really needs to move on that to create a little bit more, you know, legal and regulatory certainty in the banking space to facilitate things like that. so continue to push your federal representatives and, you know, try to establish those relationships with your banks. >> thank you. again, i want to thank our esteemed guests today, treasure fiona ma, state senator scat wiener and sfr advisor nicole elliott.

we are reporting here live from the emergency operating center, and we are so thankful to have this opportunity to engage with our state leaders during these unprecedented times. i know i mentioned it earlier, but no one's immune to the challenges to date and ahead. one thing i do know for sure is that the industry has always been resourceful, will continue to be, and as a community we will work through these tough times together. it's been a while since we've had an opportunity to come together and talk about the state of our industry from a local level, so i wanted to take a few minutes now that we're getting to the end to talk to you a little bit about what's happening in the office. many of you know april marked my one-year anniversary, having taken over from nicole elliott, and thank you for standing up an incredible office, and it's because of that hard work that i believe we will be able to make

it through these tough times. we had the great advantage to be able to build upon a lot of that hard work, and this last year we had seen tremendous growth, momentum. we've built upon that, and we are proud of our numbers. of course we could never have imagined in a million years that today we would be sitting here telecommuting, having this webinar and dealing with a global pandemic that is going to impact all of us in a major way. and that means that during a time where things were booming we experienced slow process, and that was frustrating for a lot of our industry, and today that is not different. we will probably see more of that, but we will continue to work hard for the industry and to ensure that we are moving things forward. i want to take this time to thank our mayor, our city administrator, naomi kelly, our

deputy city administrator for their continued support of the passion and equity mission of this office. and i am grateful to all of our colleagues and to our industry for all of their support. we will continue to work hard and continue to be supportive of one another. that said, we'll put up our first slide. we'll share that for those of you who are calling in and can't see it. these are our numbers, just to get everyone caught up to date. we verified over 330 social equity applicants, which is tremendous hard work. we are very happy to announce that we met our q1 goal of -- excuse me, our q4 goal last year of permitting our first equity application. since then we have permitted four. i want to congratulate our last permittee, ms. reese benton, who i know is tuned in today.

she has received her permit. that is four, and that is even during these tough times, so i know that we will persevere. we have 15 applicants through the buildout phase. this number may look familiar. the reason is a lot of our important city processes had to be slowed in light of covid, and so getting those final buildout permits signed off is not happening right now, as you all know. so as soon as the shelter lifts, we expect to see a lot of movement in that space. we have 83 applications that were formally referred to the planning department for land use entitlement. that's incredible, and in fact there are six more on the way. we are able to continue to do our work. we are, as you know, six in our offi office. three have been deployed as emergency city workers. the others are keeping the lights on. we continue to engage. if you have questions, please, don't hesitate to reach out to our office.

we will have meetings with you, over the phone to ensure that you do still feel connected to our office. 83 applications formally referred to planning is huge, and we are very, very proud of that number. a year ago it was 24, and so there is momentum in that space. with our next slide. >> sure. so in addition to the general development of issuing four permanent permits, the office of cannabis also has about 160 temporary permits as a part of our amnesty program, which was an effort to bring the unregulated market into the regulated market as we continue to prioritize and process our social equity applicants. in addition, there are legacy operators, medical cannabis dispensaries who are able to sell adult-use products based on their progress towards the equity plans and commitments

they've made to the city. we have also developed some technical assistance resources. san francisco is one of the few, if not the only jurisdiction to partner with its county bar association, the bar association of san francisco. these fine folks panel with the bar, provide pro bono legal services to social equity applicants. to date about 250 hours have been provided. in addition, our partners at the office of economic workforce development have contracted with a law firm to provide additional pro bono legal assistance, which has started in about january/february, about 50 hours to date, for a total of 300 hours. and in addition, although there aren't events at this time, we did issue a permit for cannabis

sales, on-site cannabis sales and consumption at the music festival in golden gate park. this is a part of our pilot program which may be extended on a yearly basis through 2021. with that, i'll kick it back to director rodriguez to close us out. >> thank you so much, jeremy. i want to run through this just quickly. there were some questions on the local level for -- with respect to what is sort of happening during the shelter in place. people want to know whether they can have community outreach meetings. the answer to that is no. through june 1, community outreach meetings won't be happening. after june 1 we'll revisit that. there's questions about cannabis inspections, are they going to happen now. the answer to that is no. we are going to wait until the june 1 shelter lifts before we do that. once it's lifted, we will

certainly start to bring up all of those things and start to see some of that kicking off and momentum picking up. there are a couple questions with respect to the grants that i'm going to allow eugene to answer just so you can have some more information around that issue. >> sure. so i know folks have had a lot of questions about the process to -- [indiscernible] to our knowledge it hasn't been distributed to the city in the case of the fund, that they should be arriving any day now. we're really excited about the opportunity to provide some additional support to equity applicants who we know desperately need it. we're hopeful that those will start to be distributed in the summer of this year. the go biz fund which will require a resolution we're currently in the process of getting all of that information together. you may have seen the safe announcements regarding an additional $5 million of support that will be provided to the city and county of san

francisco, so we're really interested and excited about the opportunity to provide that money to equity applicants. we will need to enter into a formal grant agreement once the resolution is passed. it's unlikely that that will happen before june 1, but once the grants are dispersed, it's my understanding that those funds would need to be distributed in the next year. marisa, i can't hear you. >> apologies. sorry, i was muted. i want to give our esteemed guests an opportunity to close out, and i know there's a small surprise at the end with senior advisor elliott. for those of you who are tuned in visually and can see the screen. so let's start with treasurer ma, if you'd like to close out. >> thank you. i do have a couple more items i

would just like to talk about with this group. my website, www.treasurer.ca.gov has two links when you log on. one is to our covid-19.ca.gov which is our official excuse me, state website for health and other resources. and then i have a -- excuse me. covid-19 resources guide that is updated continuously for small businesses, tax relief, food, as well as individual resources, and so please log on. if you have any questions, you can email me at askfiona@treasurer.ca.gov and we will answer your questions as quickly as possible. be careful of scams these days as people are thinking they're

going to get their $1200 stimulus check or other type of loans. government will never call you and ask you for your personal social security number or ask you for your bank routing number or ask you to pay over the phone. so those are all scams. and then if you could just take a couple minutes to answer the census questions, we count people every ten years. the federal government gives us over a trillion dollars to the states, and they allocate it based on some sort of census-related data, so every person that is not counted will cost us a thousand dollars per person for ten years, and we get a lot of money for everything from education to public safety to seniors to child care. and so please take a little time to do that. and then also the governor released this week a list of approved outdoor activities, so please google it.

you will find the list. it's a pretty extensive list. i know it's beautiful here in san francisco, and everybody wants to go outdoors, but the governor's really trying to make sure that we continue our social distancing so that we can continue to protect the health and safety of all the residents. so again, thank you all for accommodating us here today. i hope you all stay safe. be well. help each other during this time, and we will get through this together stronger. so thank you, marisa, thank you to the team and nicole and senator scott wiener and to all we're doing to get through this pandemic. >> thank you so much, treasurer ma. this would not have happened without your leadership, and thank you for continuing to support the cannabis industry. we really, really, really appreciate you. >> thank you. >> next i'd like to ask senator wiener to close out.

did we lose him? i know he was having some difficulty with his phone. okay. in that case, we will go on to senior advisor nicole elliott. >> thank you, guys, for putting this together, for having me. thank you to the treasurer for supporting the development of this discussion and to senator wiener for joining and all your advocacy behind the things that we collectively care about. and to the industry, hang in there. it's going to be, you know, a challenging couple of years. the governor's very -- clearly very committed to seeing legalization be a successful exercise, and so to the extent that you guys have more questions that we can work to answer or address, please feel free to reach out to me. i am a one-woman show, so i will do my best to respond as promptly as i can, but it's

nicole.elliott@gobiz.ca.gov. and we have a special guest who wanted to say hi to her san francisco family. lucy. >> ah! so sweet. >> she looks forward to meeting you all in person at some point when we are released back into the wild. >> that was our surprise. thank you so much. again, thank you, and i just want to double-check, do we still have the senator on the line? looks like we have lost him, but we just want to thank you, senator, for participating and, of course, thank you to nicole elliott and lucy for always supporting our industry and our community, and hailing from san francisco as all of these great leaders do, thank you all so much. thank you for tuning in. we will have our newsletter out next week, so you will be able to get more information about the billings under the office of cannabis in addition to answers to some of the questions that we

couldn't get to today. some of them were bcc oriented, so we will point you in the right direction and get that information to you, and i also want to remind folks that now that it's may and i think you can still get it, but the san francisco magazine has a story about our equity program and features some of our equity applicants, so make sure you pick that up and support the community. we thank you so much. thank you for tuning in to our cannabis webinar. have a wonderful day. ♪ ♪ ♪