Medical marijuana: taxation: marijuana production and environment mitigation.

Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law makes it a crime to plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process marijuana, except as otherwise authorized by law. Under existing law, qualified patients, persons with valid identification cards, and the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients and persons with identification cards, who associate in order collectively and cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, are not subject to criminal sanctions solely on the basis of that fact. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, among other things, provides for the administration of fee programs by the State Board of Equalization, establishes procedures for collection, reporting, return, refund, and appeals, and authorizes the board to adopt regulations relating to administration and enforcement of the law. The Fee Collection Procedures Law establishes criminal penalties for specified acts, including making it a misdemeanor to knowingly or willfully file a false return and making it a felony to willfully evade or attempt to evade or defeat the payment of a fee. This bill would impose a tax in specified amounts on the distribution in this state by a cultivator, as defined, of marijuana flowers, marijuana leaves, and immature marijuana plants to a licensed distributor, as specified, and would require the licensed distributor to collect the tax from the cultivator and remit it to the board. The bill would require the board to collect the tax pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require all moneys, less refunds and costs of administration, to be deposited into the Marijuana Production and Environment Mitigation Fund, which this bill would establish in the State Treasury, and would continuously appropriate the moneys in that fund to the board for allocation, as specified. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, which imposes criminal penalties for various acts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.