A Montgomery judge has postponed a July 13 hearing in lawsuits by two companies over licensing by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.

The AMCC and the companies — Alabama Always LLC and Hornet Medicinals LLC — jointly asked for the continuance.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson has not rescheduled the hearing but will hold a status conference Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

The licensing process is on hold because the AMCC found potential inconsistences in how third-party evaluators rated the applications. It is not yet clear if the holdup will delay the availability of medical cannabis products. AMCC officials have said they expected products to be ready late this year or early next year.

On June 12, the AMCC awarded licenses to 21 companies out of 90 that applied. On June 16, the AMCC announced it would not issue those licenses because of the potential inconsistencies. The AMCC said the process was suspended while it had an independent review of the application evaluations.

On June 23, Anderson issued a temporary restraining order putting a hold on the licensing, essentially affirming the AMCC’s suspension of the process. The AMCC did not oppose the order.

The AMCC does not expect its independent the review to be finished by July 13, according to the request to postpone the hearing.

The AMCC will issue licenses for cultivators, processors, transporters, testing labs, dispensaries, and integrated companies, which will cultivate, process, transport, and dispense.

Alabama Always applied for an integrated license. Hornet Medicinals applied for a processor license.

Alabama Always has questioned the AMCC’s use of third-party evaluators to rank applicants and its lack of public discussion about the licensing decisions. Most of the June 12 meeting, when the licenses were awarded, was held in executive session.

In Anderson’s June 23 order, the judge denied Alabama Always’ request for documents, depositions, and other information from the AMCC about the licensing process, saying that was premature.