Two months ago, Accela launched a “Center of Expertise” to help the public sector work better, especially in emerging areas. In California, that means, among other things, helping the state regulate cannabis sales and short-term residential rentals.
Now Accela is launching “out-of-the-box” software products for those two industries. The Accela Civic Application for Cannabis Regulation and the Accela Civic Application for Short-Term Rental Registration are the first product offerings in Accela’s new Civic Applications suite that will “provide governments with customizable solutions for new regulatory challenges,” the company says.
“We are seeing local and state governments experience a tough time navigating new innovations and industries driven by regulatory and technological change,” Accela CEO Ed Daihl says in a press release.
The products fall pretty squarely into Accela’s foundation, which is permitting and licensing functionality. Using the products, a government office can accept applications, track the processing, manage inspections and look up maps of marijuana businesses or people participating in short-term rental services like Airbnb.
The Center of Expertise will be staffed with subject matter experts, beginning with two who have long backgrounds in marijuana regulation and environmental health:
— Darryl Booth, who is bringing the environmental health expertise to the center, has been serving as senior vice president and general manager of Accela’s environmental health division, and joined the company in 2015 when Accela acquired his previous environmental health firm, Decade Software.
— Judy Steele, who will serve as a marijuana regulation and technology expert for the center, recently joined Accela and has a history of using Accela for marijuana regulation at the local level. In addition to having worked with the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses when it began regulating recreational marijuana, she has also helped the California Department of Food and Agriculture, as well as the Department of Consumer Affairs, implement Accela for their own marijuana regulations.
In public and environmental health, Accela’s mobile software allows inspectors to log information in the field and gives them tools to inventory the various systems that government workers need to monitor. For marijuana, Accela has licensing and permitting technology that can help streamline and track the process of a business applying for permission to operate.
This story includes reporting from Government Technology, sister publication of Techwire.
