Florida health officials have proposed permanent rules governing applications for medical marijuana business licenses, retaining a $146,000 nonrefundable application fee and five-day application windows used under the state’s existing emergency framework.
The Florida Department of Health published the proposed rule September 11 in the Florida Administrative Register. Rule 64-4.214 would establish nonemergency regulations for applications to become a medical marijuana treatment center (MMTC), replacing Emergency Rule 64ER22-9.
Under the proposal, licenses would continue to be awarded through “batching cycles,” in which applicants compete for a specified number of available licenses during the same application period.
Each application window would last five days. The Department of Health would establish each individual licensing cycle through a separate rule specifying when the five-day window begins and ends and how many MMTC licenses are available during that round.
Applicants would be required to submit their completed application during the designated window along with a nonrefundable $146,000 application fee. The amount is unchanged from the emergency licensing rule adopted in December 2022.
Applications would then be evaluated and scored under instructions incorporated into the rule. The department has also published updated MMTC application instructions and an evaluator manual dated August 2026 as part of the proposal.
An application would only be considered for the particular batching cycle in which it was submitted, meaning unsuccessful applicants could not automatically carry an application into a future licensing round. The proposal maintains a provision allowing certain applicants from the earlier Pigford/Black Farmers Litigation licensing cycle to request a transfer of their previously paid application fee.
The rule does not itself create a new licensing round or determine how many additional medical marijuana licenses Florida will issue. Those details would have to be established separately before applications could be accepted.
The proposal was approved by State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on September 4 and published September 11. The public comment period runs through October 2, and the department says a hearing will be scheduled if one is requested within 21 days of publication.
