Day 3: Social Equity in HB1438

HB1438 has four components that comprise its Social Equity Program. The Bill (1) creates access to capital through low-interest loans, (2) promotes equitable participation by establishing minimum thresholds for minority participation and outreach to minority communities to increase minority interest in participating in the cannabis industry (3) investing in communities disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs and (4) expungements for persons incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses as a result of the War on Drugs. 

To identify how HB1438 operationalizes the Social Equity Framework, the program is compared to Categorical Assessments of Social Equity as outlined by George Frederickson to identify which assessments are present in the Program. These comparisons are listed below. 

• Simple Individual Equalities: This assessment is not present in the HB1438 Social Equity Program. The Social Equity Program actually does the opposite by creating priority based on an applicant’s background. However, it is reasonable to interpret the City of Chicago’s cannabis license lottery system as a form of Simple Individual Equalities. It should be noted, however, that this is not part of the Social Equity Program, but rather an administrative right given to municipalities in providing licenses to license applicants.

• Segmented Equality: This assessment is present in the HB1438 Social Equity Program. Once granted a license, Social Equity Applicants are regulated in the same way that any other applicant is regulated, however, they are prioritized in the license grantee process.

• Block Equality: This assessment is present in the HB1438 Social Equity program. The creation of the Social Equity Applicant scoring is an acknowledgment of barriers to entry by minority business owners. However, the process for a Social Equity Applicant is not reactive to an existing system. Unlike the example of Brown v. Board of Education, the Bill does not seek to revise an existing administrative function whose effect is inequitable to the public.

• Domains of Equality: This assessment is present in the HB1438 Social Equity Program. The Program provides additional continuing resources to grantees of Social Equity Licenses and supports continuous outreach to communities to sustain applications from certain communities. Additionally, the Bill provides for educational services for communities disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs. 

• Equalities of Opportunity: This assessment is present in the HB1438 Social Equity Program. The Social Equity Applicant program acknowledges fundamental equality and capability to participate in the market, if resources are equalized for participants.

• The Value Equality: This assessment is present in the HB1438 Social Equity Program. The Program invests in continuing research and data analysis to determine the effect of the market on minority producers and instructs agencies to make use of the data in administrative oversight and formal recommendations to the legislature.