HB 6695 Summary

• Effective July 1, 2023, updates Connecticut's cannabis regulation framework including definitions, Social Equity Council responsibilities, and requirements for social equity applicants and equity joint ventures

• Modifies definition of "disproportionately impacted area" to use poverty rate data and historical drug conviction rates from August 1, 2023 forward, including census tracts with poverty rates above state median and top 25% of tracts by historical drug conviction rates

• Establishes Social Equity Council must identify disproportionately impacted areas by August 1, 2023 using five-year Census Bureau data, population data from decennial census, and conviction databases from Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection

• Defines "social equity applicant" and "social equity partner" as persons with less than 300% of state median household income over three preceding tax years AND either 5+ years residency or 9+ years pre-age-18 residency in disproportionately impacted areas

• Requires equity joint ventures to be at least 50-65% owned and controlled by individuals meeting social equity criteria, with Social Equity Council approval before licensing; prohibits same individual owners in multiple equity joint ventures