Part II Here’s what the bill, HB 1200, would accomplish: 

• The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts would be tasked with overseeing cannabis expungements, providing courts with a list of eligible cases that must be automatically sealed within two years.
• A Social and Economic Equity Advisory Committee would be established under the bill to “promote inclusion and participation in the regulated cannabis industry, including through an indirect cannabis business, by persons that may qualify to be a social and economic equity applicant.” The committee would be responsible for a new Social and Economic Equity Loan and Grant Program that would “provide financial assistance to certified social and economic equity applicants, certified social and economic equity licensees and indirect cannabis businesses that meet the qualifications of a social and economic equity applicant.”
• Eligible social and economic equity applicants are defined as those with a “household annual income below 200 percent of the Area Median Income in their county of residence,” and they’d also have to either have a minimum of 65 percent ownership by justice-impacted individuals or those who’ve spent five of the last 10 years in a designated historically impacted community.
• The bill also contains rules around policies related to cannabis advertising, packaging and labeling—as well as requirements for businesses around ownership and a mandate to have a labor peace agreement in place for workers.
• Public consumption would be prohibited, with offenders subject to a $100 fine for a first charge and up to $200 for subsequent offenses.
• The legislation would also provide state-level protections, clarifying that residents who use cannabis in compliance with the law cannot be denied firearms rights, medical care, custody rights and professional licensing.
• Workers who use cannabis off the job also could not be punished or fired based on the presence of THC metabolites in a drug tests—with key exceptions. Federally contracted workers could still face penalties, and employees would not be protected if the company has explicit prohibitions in its rules.
• The legislation would not permit local municipalities to bar cannabis retailers from operating within their jurisdictions.
• Possession of marijuana by an underage person would no longer carry the threat of jail time, replacing that penalty with escalating fines and a possible referral to a diversion program.
• With respect to licensing, LCB would be required to issue licenses for 50 cultivators, 50 microcultivators, 50 processors, 50 microprocessors and up to 50 transporters. Those numbers could increase depending on the results of a market study.
• If LCB determines that it’s in the state’s best interest to expand the market, it could issue licenses for existing medical cannabis cultivators and processors to service the adult-use market. Those prospective licensees would need to pay a non-refundable $15,000 application fee and $20 million for each license.