Last week New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) released revised Adult Use Cannabis Regulations (the “Revised Regulations”). The Revised Regulations do not make any major changes, however, the Revised Regulations do clarify the application procedures and some potential limitations on the licenses. Specifically, Parts 120.1(b) and (c) of the Revised Regulations now read:

(b) Licensing applications shall be accepted during specific license type application periods, which shall be announced no less than thirty (30) days before the application period opens for that specific license type, as established by the Board.

(c) Limitations may be imposed on the acceptance of licensing applications, including, but not limited to, the total number of licenses; location or authorized region of operation; size of operation or output; limitations associated with true party of interest; eligibility criteria; and operating conditions, such as sustainability, public health and safety, and social and economic equity factors.

Subsection (b) informs applicants that instead of the rolling application process which had been used for CAURD licenses, the new application process will open applications for particular license types during specific “application periods.” This means an applicant seeking a retail license can only apply during the retail license application period. Applicants will get 30 days’ notice before an application period opens to prepare their application materials.

Subsection (c) allows the OCM to limit the number of licenses of a particular type based on the factors set out above. With the CAURD licenses, we saw the OCM limit the number of licenses by region. Under the Revised Regulations the OCM could use region or a variety of other factors to limit the number of applicants that are granted a particular license.

The OCM expects the first application period to open in mid to late October of 2023. There has not been any indication of which type of license will be open for applications first.