In emerging industries, from car sharing to short-term rentals, cities face a range of regulatory complexities. They’re challenged to implement permitting, inspections and licensing across business models that literally didn’t exist just a few years ago. In a recent webinar, Culver City, Calif. senior program analyst Trisha Perez talked about how that municipality of some 40,000 residents has leveraged Accela technology to streamline new processes around the sale of cannabis. In the wake of statewide legalization, “we were having to reevaluate our values as a city organization and as a community,” she said. Cannabis cultivation, distribution and sale required a new regulatory framework. “It did take quite a bit of research and collaboration between departments here in the city.” The city faced a range of challenges in determining specific goals,… Continue reading

Tags: cannabis regulation, civic solution for cannabis regulation

A new piece of legislation under review in the Senate could decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and push state and local governments to act fast to regulate the emerging market. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, introduced Senate Bill “420” this month to support a similar bill in the House that would give states the power to legalize marijuana, opening up new tax revenues and authorizing national insurance and financial institutions to provide support to cannabis businesses. While previous cannabis legalization bills have failed in the House and Senate before, pro-cannabis legislators and lobbying groups are optimistic based on a number of new market forces propelling cannabis adoption…. Continue reading

Tags: cannabis, cannabis regulation, civic solution for cannabis regulation, marijuana

How often do you take a large black market, flip a switch and turn it into a highly regulated one? When Colorado legalized retail sales of cannabis in 2014, license applications poured into the City and County of Denver. While city officials had spent months preparing, they still faced the mammoth task of managing the demands of a novel regulatory program that came with unforeseen, real-time challenges and a high degree of outside scrutiny. Responding to those demands involved a coordinated effort across multiple city departments utilizing industry-leading technology to streamline application intake, back-office workflows, field inspections and community engagement. As cannabis continues to emerge from the shadows,… Continue reading

Tags: cannabis, cannabis licensing, cannabis licensing application, cannabis licensing software, civic solution for cannabis regulation, Government Software, marijuana, smart cities