Section 11-850-20 - Selection process and criteria based on merit(a) The department shall consider the following criteria based on merit to evaluate applications verified pursuant to section 11-850-19: (1) Ability to operate a business, including but not limited to education, knowledge, and experience with: (A) Regulated industries;(B) Agriculture or horticulture;(C) Commercial manufacturing;(D) Pharmaceutical companies;(E) Operating or working in a medical cannabis dispensary business;(F) Creating and implementing a business plan, including a timeline for opening a business;(G) Creating and implementing a financial plan;(I) Secure inventory tracking and control;(J) Protecting confidential customer information;(K) Owning or managing a business that required twenty-four hour security monitoring; and(L) Any other experience the applicant considers relevant;(2) Plan for operating a medical cannabis dispensary in the county for which the applicant is seeking a license, including but not limited to a timeline for opening a retail dispensing location;(3) Proof of financial stability and access to financial resources, including but not limited to: (A) Legal sources of finances immediately available to begin operating a dispensary;(B) A summary of financial statements in businesses previously or currently owned or operated by the applicant;(C) A financial plan for operating a medical cannabis dispensary in Hawaii;(D) Good credit history; and(E) History of bankruptcy by the applicant or entities owned or operated by the applicant;(4) Ability to comply with the security requirements of this chapter and section 329D-7, HRS;(5) Capacity to meet the needs of qualifying patients and qualifying out-of-state patients, including but not limited to: (A) Educating patients on how cannabis can be used to assist patients with debilitating medical conditions and about the cannabis and manufactured cannabis products that will be available in the applicant's retail dispensing locations;(B) Producing and maintaining a supply of cannabis that is sufficient to meet the needs of qualifying patients and qualifying out-of-state patients;(C) Providing safe, accessible retail dispensing locations; and(D) Measuring and improving customer satisfaction;(6) Ability to comply with criminal background check requirements pursuant to this chapter and sections 329D-6, 329D-12, and 846-2.7, HRS;(7) Ability to comply with the requirements in this chapter and chapters 329 and 329D, HRS, for inventory tracking, security, and sales limits for qualifying patients and qualifying out-of-state patients;(8) Ability to maintain confidentiality of a qualifying patient's or qualifying out-of-state patient's medical condition, health status, and purchases of cannabis or manufactured cannabis products;(9) Ability to comply with the requirements for certified laboratory analysis of cannabis and manufactured cannabis products pursuant to this chapter;(10) Ability to comply with requirements for signage, packaging, labeling, and chain of custody of products;(11) A plan for secure disposal or destruction of cannabis and manufactured cannabis products;(12) Ability to ensure product safety, in accordance with this chapter; and(13) No history of having a business license revoked.(b) Each merit criterion will be worth a number of points announced by the department in the notice of open application period.(c) The department shall group the applications according to the county of proposed licensure.(d) A review panel comprised of members designated by the department who have relevant expertise shall evaluate the applications and award points for each merit criterion. The points shall be totaled for each application and the applications ranked from the highest total score to the lowest total score within each group.(e) In order to be awarded a license based on merit criteria, an applicant must be able to show the ability to operate a dispensary.(f) The department shall award a dispensary license to the highest scoring applicant or applicants within each group. The department shall notify in writing each of the applicants of their respective score and ranking for their respective group. The department shall post on its website the total score for each applicant.(g) The department shall hold unselected applications in reserve to offer a license to the next highest scoring applicant if the highest scoring applicant fails to pay the licensing fee in accordance with section 11-850-21. When all available licenses within each group have been issued, the department shall remove all unselected applications from its list of reserved applications in that group and notify all applicants.[Eff DEC 14 2015] (Auth: HRS §§ 321-9, 329D-27) (Imp: HRS §§ 329D-5, 329D-7)[Am and comp 2/24/2022] (Auth: HRS § 329D-7) (Imp: SLH 2017, Act 170, §3)