A court has ordered Illinois officials to hold off on rescoring license applications for recreational marijuana dispensaries, delaying the controversial process for at least a week, records show.
State officials agreed to the ruling, which freezes a plan by Gov. J.B. Pritzker meant to resolve complaints about the scoring process.
The order by Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Adam Giganti came in response to a lawsuit filed against Pritzker and his administration by three license applicants that already qualified for a lottery to win the licenses: SB IL LLC, Vertical Management LLC, and GRI Holdings LLC.
The Illinois Supreme Court last week declined to hear the case, so the plaintiffs filed it in the lower court. The applicants argue that the state’s ongoing delay in awarding the licenses for marijuana is unfair and illegal.
The businesses filing suit seek a temporary injunction and a permanent court order to compel state officials to award 75 new retail store licenses as originally planned, without giving the losing applicants a second chance in this first round of licensing.
Under the state law that legalized marijuana this year, the licenses were to be awarded by May 1. The governor issued an executive order indefinitely delaying those licenses, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sept. 3, the state announced 21 applicants that earned perfect application scores to qualify for a lottery to win the 75 licenses. The three plaintiffs in the suit were among the perfect scorers who qualified.
But losing applicants filed suit, saying that the scoring process was unfair because the state failed to notify some applicants of deficiencies in their applications, and gave different scores to identical parts of applications.
In addition, lawsuits have challenged the state’s awarding of points for majority ownership by military veterans. Because only applicants with perfect scores ended up qualifying for licenses, that meant that only veteran-owned businesses could qualify.
In response to complaints about the process, Pritzker announced his administration would issue a new round of deficiency notices, and give applicants a chance to correct deficiencies in their applications and get rescored.
But the law does not allow deficiency notices to be sent after the applications are scored, the plaintiffs argue. Giganti on Wednesday also required the state to hold off on issuing supplemental deficiency notices to applicants until a hearing can be held Nov. 5.
The state’s delay, made in response to political pressure, the plaintiffs alleged, is hurting all applicants, many of whom are paying rent or fees to reserve property for potential use.
If the lottery is held, it would be difficult to reverse any illegally awarded licenses, the suit argues, meaning the process would “descend further into chaos.”
“Nothing in the Act allows Defendants to change the rules in the middle of the process,” the complaint states.
State officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Previously, the Illinois attorney general’s office argued that the suit had technical problems, including not naming all the affected applicants, and called the claim that the changes were due to political pressure “utter nonsense.”
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