Rep. Charlene Lima said she plans to introduce legislation to mandate public disclosure of “every step” in the marijuana cultivators application process.

PROVIDENCE — A state legislator took sharp aim Sunday at the state’s decision not to release the identities of two companies pending approval as the first ever marijuana cultivators.

Rep. Charlene Lima called the decision “the first step in the total political corruption of the whole medical marijuana and marijuana for profit process in Rhode Island.”

A Cranston Democrat, Lima said she plans to introduce legislation to mandate public disclosure of “every step” in the marijuana cultivators application process and any other process dealing with medical marijuana or recreational marijuana should the state opt to legalize the drug.

She called on Gov. Gina Raimondo and legislative leaders to demand the immediate release of all information about the cultivator applicants, including the names of the applicants, their lobbyists, registered business agents, financial backers and locations. As deputy speaker Lima is a member of House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello’s leadership team.

Matt Sheaff, a spokesman for the state Department of Business Regulation which is handling the application process, recently told The Providence Journal that six cultivator applications have been received and two have been approved. But he declined to release additional information about the approved applicants, including the company names, a registered agent and the address of the operation.

Sheaff noted that approved applicants are not guaranteed a license. A license will only be issued after an approved applicant passes a state inspection that must be scheduled within nine months. Sheaff initially said that two applications were fully approved. On Sunday, he clarified that two applications are pending approval subject to an inspection to verify information in the applications. The names of those applicants will be released after a successful inspection, he said.

On Sunday in response to Lima's statements, Sheaff said DBR is not sharing applications at this time because they contain "protected financial and business information" and information about applicants' current medical marijuana grows as well as current and future security measures.

"Disclosing this information to the public poses a substantive risk to applicants," Sheaff said.

“This horrendous decision by DBR is perfect for the politically well-connected and their high-priced lobbyists to have the process for approval of cultivators mired in secrecy, back-room deals and perhaps kickbacks without any public scrutiny for months,” Lima said.

“During those months it is easy to imagine legislation being drafted, like 38 Studios, that is [tailor] made to pave the road for the approval of only the politically well-connected applicants without the public being able to follow the political gravy train and the money.”

Sheaff called the state's application evaluation process transparent. He noted that two DBR staff members first review the applications with identifying information about the applicant removed so the staff members do not know whose applications they are reviewing.

If two staff members decide the applicant meets the mandatory criteria, then the rest of the application, which includes identifying information such as articles of incorporation and applicant disclosures, will be reviewed.

The state put emergency regulations in place in late October dictating the regulations for marijuana cultivators. The emergency was triggered by a law that bans caregivers who have turned their grows into businesses from selling to the dispensaries as of Jan. 1.

At that point only state-approved cultivators, which will be treated as highly regulated commercial operations, will be allowed to sell to the dispensaries.

Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program has roughly 16,120 patients, a 25 percent increase since last year.

—jbogdan@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7493

On Twitter: @JenniferBogdan