Kalamazoo commissioners reviewed proposed changes to the city’s six-year-old cannabis social equity policy Monday, with no successful equity-qualified business yet to show for it.
The proposal, presented as an information item at the July 20 Committee of the Whole meeting, would amend City Commission Policy 30.9 — officially the Marihuana Social Equity Policy — for the first time since 2020. No vote was taken; the commission is scheduled to consider adoption at its August 10 meeting.
Economic Development Supervisor Bobby Boyd told commissioners the update responds to a cannabis industry that looks very different than it did when the policy was first adopted alongside the city’s marihuana licensing framework five years ago. Since then, flower prices have dropped 85%, the state added a 24% wholesale tax this year, and — despite being the policy’s central 2020 goal — no social-equity-qualified cannabis business has successfully opened and operated in Kalamazoo.
Same funding target, new priorities
The amendments don’t change how much money goes into the Social Equity Fund: the city will continue directing at least 25% of local marihuana permit fee revenue and state marihuana excise tax revenue into it, with no more than 15% going toward administrative costs. What changes is how that money can be spent.
The fund would be organized around four priority areas: access to capital and asset acquisition (up to 35% of the fund), ownership retention and growth (up to 30%), asset protection and transfer (up to 10%), and cannabis business retention and education (up to 25%). Eligible uses range from down payment assistance and business startup capital to estate planning, title clearing, and industry-specific education for existing cannabis businesses.
Staff plan to solicit the work through two or three separate requests for proposals, rather than the single large RFP used in the policy’s first iteration, an approach Boyd said should let organizations with specific expertise bid on the pieces that match their skills.
Commissioners press for specifics
Commissioner Slaby asked repeatedly whether the plan to broaden the policy’s reach beyond the cannabis industry itself is actually written into the proposed amendments. Boyd acknowledged it isn’t yet and said staff would look at adding language to address it.
Slaby also noted that expungement services and legal support for people with marihuana-related convictions — which she called central to the original rationale for social equity policy, given the disproportionate impact of past marihuana enforcement on Black and brown residents — aren’t explicitly funded under the four pillars as currently structured. She asked that expungement fairs and legal services be considered eligible uses beyond one-time educational workshops. Boyd said staff would take a closer look.
Commissioner Praedel asked for a breakdown of the city’s cannabis tax revenue from 2020 to the present ahead of the August meeting, saying it would help commissioners understand the real dollars behind the 25% allocation. Boyd estimated the city has historically collected between $280,000 and $350,000 a year through the tax, though he said the impact of this year’s new wholesale tax on that figure won’t be clear until late 2027. Praedel also asked whether funding recipients would be required to live in the city, work in the city, or both — a question Boyd said staff hasn’t fully resolved.
Commissioner Hoffman asked directly why, after six years, no equity-qualified cannabis business has succeeded in the city, and what internal accountability measures exist over the contractor managing the funds. Boyd pointed to a lack of access to standard business incentives and tax write-offs available to other industries, calling it a statewide, not strictly local, problem for cash-heavy cannabis businesses. He acknowledged the city hasn’t had strong measurable deliverables in place and said the new RFP structure is intended to fix that.
Next steps
The policy amendments return to the commission for consideration on August 10 — a meeting pushed back a week from its usual date because of the August 4 election.
