1. (1) an applicant must demonstrate:

   1. (i) a significant presence in New York State, either individually or by having a principal corporate location in the State;
   2. (ii) it is incorporated or otherwise organized under the laws of New York State; or
   3. (iii) a majority of the ownership of the applicant are residents of New York State by being physically present in the state no less than 180 calendar days during the current year or 540 calendar days over the course of three years;

2. (2) if the applicant is an individual, or an entity with one or more individuals, at least one individual must:

   1. (i) be justice involved, which means an individual that:

      1. (a) was convicted of a marihuana-related offense in New York State prior to the 31st of March 2021;
      2. (b) had a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, or dependent who was convicted of a marihuana-related offense in New York State prior to the 31st of March 2021; or
      3. (c) was a dependent of an individual who was convicted of a marihuana-related offense in New York State prior to the 31st of March 2021; and
   2. (ii) provide evidence of the primary residence of the justice involved individual at the time of such individual’s arrest or conviction; and
   3. (iii) hold or have held, for a minimum of 2 years, at least 10 percent ownership interest in, and control of, a qualifying business, which means a business that had net profit for at least 2 of the years the business was in operation; or

3. (3) if the applicant is a nonprofit organization, or wholly owned and controlled by one, the nonprofit organization must:

   1. (i) be recognized as an entity pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
   2. (ii) intentionally serve justice involved individuals and communities with historically high rates of arrest, conviction, incarceration or other indicators of law enforcement activity for marihuana-related offenses;
   3. (iii) operate and manage a social enterprise that had at least two years of positive net assets or profit as evidenced in the organization’s tax returns;
   4. (iv) have a history of creating vocational opportunity for justice involved individuals;
   5. (v) have justice involved individual(s) on its board or as officers; and

   6. (vi) have at least five full time employees.

      (b) Applicant ownership and control minimums.

4. (1) At least 51 percent or more of the applicant shall be owned, in the aggregate, by:

   1. (i) at least one individual that satisfies the requirements for an eligible applicant set forth in sections 116.4(a)(1) and 116.4(a)(2) or entity that satisfies the requirements for an eligible applicant set forth in paragraphs (a)(1) and (3) of this Part; and
   2. (ii) any other additional individuals, if any, who are justice involved; and

5. (2) At least one individual that satisfies the requirements for an eligible applicant set forth in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) or entity that satisfies the requirements for an eligible applicant set forth in paragraphs (a)(1) and (3) of this Part shall own at least 30 percent of the applicant and such individual or entity shall have sole control of the applicant or licensee.

   (c) Evaluation.

   An eligible applicant shall be evaluated based on any of the following criteria which shall be weighted as determined by the office:

6. (1) if the applicant is an individual, or an entity with one or more individuals, whether the justice involved individual was themselves convicted of a marihuana-related offense as set forth in clause (a)(2)(i)(a) of this Part;

7. (2) the justice involved individual’s primary residence at the time of such individual’s arrest or conviction:

   1. (i) relative to areas with historically high rates of arrest, conviction, or incarceration for marihuana-related offenses;
   2. (ii) relative to areas with historically low median income; or
   3. (iii) was provided by a public housing authority in New York State or New York City; and

8. (3) the qualifying business based on:

   1. (i) the number of employees employed by the business;
   2. (ii) the number of years the business has been in operation;
   3. (iii) the profitability of the business;
   4. (iv) type of business and whether the business was a retail business, or sold products or services directly to the end-consumer;
   5. (v) whether the business had a physical location; or
   6. (vi) whether the business received or resolved any violations, fines or fees assessed against the business by State or Federal regulatory authorities; and

9. (4) any other factors as determined by the office.

   (d) The office may create regional geographic zones for the scoring of applicants.

   Applicants may be asked to rank a number of preferences of regional geographic zones to be considered for a license. For regional geographical zones where there are more applicants than available licenses, the office may select from eligible applicants who indicated first preference for the given region based on weighted scoring of the evaluation criteria set out above. In the event there is a tie between two or more candidates or there are more applicants than available licenses after the evaluation criteria has been applied, the office is authorized to use a random selection process to identify the final applicants to recommend to the board for licensure.

(a) Eligibility.

The following minimum requirements must be met to become an eligible applicant for this license: