During a Tuesday meeting, CCB Executive Director Tyler Klimas announced that provisional licensees have until the end of September to request another 90-day extension, stating that more than 19 entities have not submitted for an extension. 

This week’s Indy Environment looks at the main points from a three-day Colorado River conference held in Las Vegas as the water users face an ongoing crisis and looming cuts.

Against a backdrop of increasingly unaffordable housing options, two measures heard at the Legislature on Tuesday highlighted the deep divide between developers and affordable housing advocates.

Proponents commissioned an analysis from RGC Economics that projected the state could support up to 1,283 additional dispensaries. Nevada’s marijuana market grossed nearly $700 million last fiscal year and is on track to break that record this fiscal year.

Her order gave credence to many of the complaints brought by plaintiffs who did not win coveted and limited dispensary licenses in 2018 and argued the state’s process for vetting applications was marred by favoritism and shifting standards midway through the process.

Commissioners unanimously voted on Friday to approve the settlement, which involves some 17 plaintiffs and reshuffles some of the licenses that the state awarded in the disputed 2018 application round. It comes in the middle of a trial so big that it had to be moved to the Las Vegas Convention Center and as part of a consolidated lawsuit with so many parties it has earned the nickname “World War Weed.”

Even with sunny weather and a go-ahead from Gov. Steve Sisolak — who last week announced the state’s scheduled reopening date would be moved up by more than a week — many Nevadans remained cautious about going out to dinner, shopping or other activities put on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chairman James DeVolld said on Monday that he thinks his new duties will deal with major litigation between the state and marijuana businesses that argued they were unfairly denied potentially lucrative dispensary licenses. A trial on that matter is scheduled for April.

“So you want to rely on people who know how to get you where you want to go.," said Rebecca Gasca, a lobbyist and owner with Wendovera LLC. "They have the compass. They’re the compass holders. You’re the boat. And you trust them. And it makes sense because you haven’t been in their shoes.”

Records offer a glimpse of the challenges that will lie ahead as Nevada once again overhauls its marijuana regulation next year and adopts an oversight regime not unlike the one that reined casinos into a respected mainstream.

In the most recent round of retail marijuana dispensary licenses issued by the State of Nevada, there were 116 applicants who submitted 461 applications vying for 61 licenses. The selection process was arduous and had the full support of the majority of companies applying for the licenses – until a handful of applicants with a sense of entitlement, including Nevada insiders, former politicians and real estate tycoons, were not chosen.

The actual subject of the hearing was AB421, a bill heard by the Assembly Judiciary Committee that would reverse many of the substantive changes Republican lawmakers made in 2015 on lawsuits related to construction defect claims, a move derided by Democrats but lauded by Republicans including Gov. Brian Sandoval and developers as necessary to stem the growing tide of alleged “frivolous” lawsuits on residential construction defects.