Daily Business Report: Thursday, July 7, 2022
California cuts cannabis taxes to heal ailing industry
By Alexei Koseff | CalMatters
In Summary
Gov. Newsom and the Legislature cut a California cannabis tax, but not everyone is convinced it’s enough to stabilize the legal market. Social equity operators say the changes don’t do nearly enough to help them.
California is significantly overhauling its cannabis tax structure, including entirely eliminating a tax on growers, in an effort to boost a struggling legal industry begging for relief.
The changes, which were adopted last week as part of a broader state budget agreement, will also create tax credits for some cannabis businesses, expand labor rights within the industry and switch collection of a state excise tax from distributors to retailers. That tax will pause at 15% for three years, after which regulators could raise the rate to recoup lost revenue from discontinuing the cultivation tax.
Prominent cannabis industry groups praised the plan for its potential to lower costs and help make legal sales more competitive with an illicit market that remains robust six years after California voters legalized recreational marijuana. Yet even as the measure won overwhelming approval in the Legislature, it was met with vocal discontent from retailers who say they will not benefit and several lawmakers who complained that it did not do enough to address ongoing racial disparities in the industry.
While efforts to secure further assistance from the state may continue, they seem unlikely to gain favor any time soon with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the tax revision on Thursday.
“I’m incredibly proud of this bill. It accomplishes an incredible amount of things for the betterment of all Californians,” Nicole Elliott, director of the Department of Cannabis Control and Newsom’s top cannabis adviser, told CalMatters. “So I think we need to take a moment to reflect on the fact that something great got done.”
Top photo: Supporters for equity cannabis tax reform gather at a rally at the state Capitol on Jan. 13, 2021. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
USD awards first scholarship in engineering,
sustainability and health to Kenyan student
Lilian Maruti, a construction engineer in Kenya, has been awarded a full scholarship for the University of San Diego’s new Master of Science in Engineering, Sustainability and Health (MESH) degree program.
Maruti has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
Currently she works as a civil engineer at Ditco Engineering Construction Company, where her key role is direct construction operation activities.
Paragon Institute of Innovation along with USD and USD’s Professional and Continuing Education programs awarded the full scholarship to Maruti, one of two finalists called to a final interview.
“Lilian is the perfect candidate for MESH,” said Caroline Baille, co-academic director of MESH.
“She seeks to become a leader for sustainability and health in her country with projects in mind that she can work on during and after the MESH program.”
Kaiser Permanente named founding
partner at SDSU’s Snapdragon Stadium
San Diego State Athletics has announced a five-year agreement with Kaiser Permanente as a founding partner of Snapdragon Stadium at SDSU Mission Valley.
A key component of the new partnership is the naming rights to Kaiser Permanente Thrive Park, the area of reinforced grass fields located to the west of the stadium that will not only serve the region on game days but will also allow for passive recreation and community events throughout the year.
The agreement will include Kaiser Permanente branding on the northeast gate, which will serve as the student entrance as well as provide access to food trucks and surrounding activities on game days.
Kaiser Permanente will also receive signage and branding opportunities in connection with three parent lounges to be located inside the state-of-the-art facility.
Kaiser Permanente joins Qualcomm Technologies, Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation as well as Sycuan Casino Resort, and San Diego County Toyota Dealers as recently announced Founding Partners of the new 35,000 capacity stadium.
Snapdragon Stadium is on schedule to be completed by Sept. 3, when the Aztec football team is slated to face the Arizona Wildcats in its 2022 season opener.
‘Soft’ CRISPR may offer a new fix for genetic defects
Curing debilitating genetic diseases is one of the great challenges of modern medicine. During the past decade, development of CRISPR technologies and advancements in genetics research brought new hope for patients and their families, although the safety of these new methods is still of significant concern.
Publishing July 1 in the journal Science Advances, a team of biologists at the University of California San Diego that includes postdoctoral scholar Sitara Roy, specialist Annabel Guichard and Professor Ethan Bier describes a new, safer approach that may correct genetic defects in the future. Their strategy, which makes use of natural DNA repair machinery, provides a foundation for novel gene therapy strategies with the potential to cure a large spectrum of genetic diseases.
Sanford Burnham Prebys promotes 3
faculty members to associate professor
Sanford Burnham Prebys announced the promotion of three of three faculty members from assistant to associate professor. The promoted faculty, all from the Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, are Ani Deshpande, Brooke Emerling and Charles Spruck.
Ani Deshpande studies developmental processes in stem cells that get hijacked by cancer, focusing specifically on acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most common types of blood cancer. Deshpande joined the Institute in 2015.
Brooke Emerling studies the metabolism of cancer cells, specifically how certain signaling proteins can contribute to the uninhibited growth typical of tumors. Emerling recently received a $2.3 million grant from the NIH to continue her work over the next four years.
Charles Spruck develops new, effective, nontoxic treatments for patients with advanced cancers. Specifically, his recent studies have focused on the potential to treat cancer with viral mimicry, which tricks the body into thinking it has a viral infection.
Spruck joined the Institute in 2010. Prior to that, he held positions at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Scripps Research.
Belmont Village Senior Living to open July 14
Luxury residential developer Greystar, Belmont Village La Jolla and UCSD Stein Center on Healthy Aging partnered to answer new luxury living demands from seniors. The state-of-the-art community will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on July 14, showcasing the 17-story high-rise with 180 units of independent living, assisted living, and memory care at 3880 Nobel Drive in La Jolla.
The latest Belmont Village community will introduce the first-of-its-kind Living Lab, a collaboration with the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and operated by UC San Diego, allowing faculty and researchers to study health, well-being, and longevity for successful aging to help advance quality of life for seniors.
New mental health hospital plan
approved at Tri-City Medical Center
Workers are expected to break ground on a new mental health hospital on the campus of Tri-City Medical Center in August or September with the recent approval of the project by the Oceanside Planning Commission.
Estimated to cost $20 million, 14,400-square-foot, single-story facility replaces Tri-City’s existing behavioral health unit, which the hospital closed in 2018 citing prohibitively expensive government-mandated renovations to reduce hanging risks. Tri-City will operate the new facility, built on the far northwestern corner of its Oceanside campus.
Viasat offers new high-speed satellite
Internet service supporting rural areas
Carlsbad-based Viasat announced a new high-speed satellite Internet service for many U.S. markets, including San Diego.
The company’s “New Choice” service offers download speeds of 25 to 150 megabits per second with plans starting at $49.95 per month.
Viasat said the new service will support people seeking to move to suburban and rural locations without other high-speed Internet services.
“We are introducing a new satellite internet experience to help meet the evolving needs of residential consumers,” said Steven Mesnick, general manager of U.S. broadband at the company. “By optimizing our satellite network, we expect to deliver more data at faster speeds, more consistently.”
San Diego Botanic Garden holds
‘World of Houseplants’ summer exhibition
San Diego Botanic Garden holds its summer exhibition, “World of Houseplants,” from July 16 through Sept. 5, featuring rare species and everyday houseplants ranging from air plants and aroids to carnivorous plants and wax plants.
The exhibit will be in the 8,000-square-foot Dickinson Family Education Conservatory. Vendors from the U.S. and abroad will sell plants and cuttings, potting materials, unique pots, and other houseplant products on certain days. The garden will offer classes and hands-on workshops about caring for plants.
The garden is open from 9 am to 5 pm Wednesday through Monday. Members get exclusive access to the exhibition from 9 to 10 am on Sundays. Entrance to the exhibition includes access to the rest of the garden’s 37 acres during the same visit.
For more information, visit sdbgarden.org or click here
New guidelines opens SoCalGas energy
savings assistance program to more customers
Southern California Gas Co. announced that as of July 1, 2022, more customers will now be eligible for no-cost energy-saving home improvements through the Energy Savings Assistance Program. The new guidelines expand eligibility criteria for customers whose income is up to 250 percent of federal poverty guidelines, compared to the previous criteria of up to 200 percent. A family of four that earns up to $69,375, will now be eligible for no-cost energy efficiency upgrades. The previous income eligibility guidelines were up to $55,500 for a family of four.
The ESA program provides attic insulation, furnace repair or replacement, clothes washer, water heater repair or replacement, water heater blankets, door weather stripping, caulking, low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, minor repairs to doors and windows, and other services to eligible customers.
Customers could save up to 20 percent annually on their natural gas bill depending on the energy efficiency upgrades performed. More than 1.6 million homes have been enrolled in the program since 2002.
Eurofins Discovery acquires Discovery BioMed
Eurofins Discovery, the leading brand with over 35 years of success providing a complete solution of products and services for drug discovery, announced the acquisition of DiscoveryBioMed, a contract research organization (CRO) focused on developing novel human bioassays utilizing cells from diseased and normal human tissues.
Eurofins Discovery acquired DiscoveryBioMed for its expertise in leveraging primary and immortalized human diseased and normal cells to develop novel, customized bioassays supporting clients from HTS to lead optimization.
DiscoveryBioMed achieves this through its focus on biologically relevant cellular models for the renal, skin, taste, ophthalmic, liver, respiratory, oncology, and other therapeutic areas. The addition of DiscoveryBioMed supports Eurofins Discovery’s strategy to have the most complete, highest quality portfolio of drug discovery services and products, and further strengthens its ability to support translational biology for drug discovery research and development.
Akeso Occupational Health acquires
WorkPartners Occupational Health Specialists
Akeso Occupational Health announced the acquisition of WorkPartners Occupational Health Specialists, a San Diegooccupational health provider with clinic locations in Oceanside, Vista, Mission Valley and National City.
WorkPartners Occupational Health Specialists was formed in 2012 with a founding principle that collaboration between key stakeholders in the Workers’ Compensation ecosystem could drive not only lower costs but better outcomes for our patients. Since that time, WorkPartners has expanded to 4 locations in San Diego County serving almost 3,000 partners while establishing itself as the region’s fastest growing and top-rated practice dedicated exclusively to occupational medicine. WorkPartners also runs Elevate, San Diego’s annual workers compensation conference.
Restore Hyper Wellness to open 28
new locations in Southern California
Restore Hyper Wellness, a Texas-based provider of proactive wellness services, announced its expansion into Southern California. The brand has signed multi-unit development agreements with five experienced, exempt franchisee groups.
Together, they plan to open 14 locations in 2022 and 14 locations in 2023 with more in the pipeline in the years to follow.
Pete Selner and Marc Thomas, who operate over 40 Orangetheory Fitness locations, have committed to opening 40 Restore locations over several years. They opened their La Costa (Carlsbad location) in April and Del Mar location in May. They also have locations planned for La Jolla, Tustin, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Point Loma this year.
