Cannabis.

(1) The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA generally divides responsibility for the state licensure and regulation of commercial cannabis activity among the Bureau of Cannabis Control in the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Public Health. MAUCRSA authorizes each of these licensing authorities to suspend, revoke, place on probation with terms and conditions, or otherwise discipline licenses issued by the licensing authority and fine a licensee, if the licensee is found to have committed any of the acts or omissions constituting grounds for disciplinary action. MAUCRSA makes a person engaging in commercial cannabis activity without a license required by MAUCRSA subject to civil penalties up to 3 times the amount of the license fee for each violation. MAUCRSA requires civil penalties imposed and collected by a licensing authority to be deposited into the General Fund, except as specified. This bill would authorize a licensing authority to issue a citation to a licensee or unlicensed person for any act or omission that violates or has violated a provision of MAUCRSA or a regulation adopted pursuant to MAUCRSA, as specified. The bill would provide that these sanctions are separate from, and in addition to, all other administrative, civil, or criminal remedies. The bill would require moneys collected pursuant to this provision associated with the recovery of investigation and enforcement costs to be deposited into the Cannabis Control Fund, and would require an administrative fine amount to be deposited directly into the Cannabis Fines and Penalties Account. The bill would require, except as provided, moneys collected pursuant to MAUCRSA as a result of fines or penalties imposed under MAUCRSA to be deposited directly into the Cannabis Fines and Penalties Account, and would require these moneys to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature. (2) MAUCRSA establishes in state government a Cannabis Control Appeals Panel to review specified decisions of licensing authorities appealed by any person aggrieved by those decisions. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions for authorized closed sessions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body. This bill would specify that the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel is established in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. The bill would authorize the panel to hold a closed session for the purpose of holding a deliberative conference, as specified. (3) MAUCRSA, until January 1, 2019, authorized a state licensing authority to issue a temporary license if specified conditions were met. MAUCRSA, until January 1, 2020, authorizes a licensing authority, in its sole discretion, to issue a provisional license if the applicant holds or held a temporary license for the same premises and the same commercial activity to be authorized by the provisional license, and if the applicant has submitted a completed license application to the licensing authority, including evidence that compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act is underway. MAUCRSA requires a provisional license to be valid for 12 months from the date it was issued, and prohibits a provisional license from being renewed. This bill would extend the repeal date for the provisional license provisions to January 1, 2022. The bill would delete the requirement for a provisional license that an applicant holds or held a temporary license. The bill would revise the requirement for a provisional license that the applicant has submitted a completed license application to include evidence that compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act or local cannabis ordinances is underway, if applicable, as specified. By adding requirements to provisional license applications, which are required to be signed under penalty of perjury, the bill would expand the scope of the crime of perjury, and would thereby impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a provisional license to be valid for no more than 12 months from the date it was issued. The bill would authorize a licensing authority, in its sole discretion, to renew the provisional license until the licensing authority issues or denies the provisional license. If the licensing authority renews a provisional license, the bill would require the licensing authority to include the outstanding items needed to qualify for an annual license. The bill would authorize a licensing authority, in its sole discretion, to revoke or suspend a provisional license if the licensing authority determines the licensee failed to actively and diligently pursue requirements for an annual license. The bill would require a licensing authority to cancel a provisional license upon issuance of an annual license, denial of an annual license, abandonment of an application for licensure, or withdrawal of an application for licensure. The bill would make related changes. (4) MAUCRSA requires, not later than January 1, 2021, the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a program for cannabis comparable to the National Organic Program and the California Organic Food and Farming Act. Existing law requires the department to be the sole determiner of organic designation and certification, unless the National Organic Program authorizes organic designation and certification for cannabis, in which case the department's authority would become inoperative and would be repealed on the following January 1. Existing law prohibits a person from representing, selling, or offering for sale any cannabis or cannabis products as organic or with the designation or certification established by the department, except as provided. This bill, not later than July 1, 2021, would require the State Department of Public Health to establish a certification program for manufactured cannabis products comparable to the National Organic Program and the California Organic Food and Farming Act. The bill would remove the requirement that the Department of Food and Agriculture be the sole determiner of designation and certification, and would make the State Department of Public Health's authority inoperative if the National Organic Program authorizes organic designation and certification for cannabis. The bill would prohibit a person from representing, selling, or offering for sale any cannabis or cannabis products as organic or with the designation or certification established by the Department of Food and Agriculture or the State Department of Public Health, except as provided. (5) MAUCRSA, until July 1, 2019, provides that the California Environmental Quality Act does not apply to the adoption of an ordinance, rule, or regulation by a local jurisdiction that requires discretionary review and approval of permits, licenses, or other authorizations to engage in commercial cannabis activity. This bill would extend the repeal date of this provision to July 1, 2021. (6) MAUCRSA authorizes the bureau, upon request by a local jurisdiction, to provide technical assistance, as defined, to a local equity program that helps local equity applicants or local equity licensees. MAUCRSA, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, authorizes an eligible local jurisdiction to submit an application to the bureau for a grant to assist local equity applicants and local equity licensees through that local jurisdiction's equity program. MAUCRSA requires the bureau to review an application, and to grant funding to an eligible local jurisdiction, based on specified factors. MAUCRSA requires the bureau to prorate the funding as necessary if the applications for funding are greater than the amount appropriated for the program. MAUCRSA requires an eligible local jurisdiction that receives grant funds pursuant to these provisions to use the grant funds to assist local equity licensees in that local jurisdiction to gain entry to, and to successfully operate in, the state's regulated cannabis marketplace. MAUCRSA requires an eligible local jurisdiction that receives grant funds pursuant to these provisions to, on or before a specified date, submit an annual report to the bureau that contains specified information on the use of the grant funds and specified demographic data. MAUCRSA requires the bureau to serve as a point of contact for local equity programs for specified purposes. MAUCRSA requires, on or before July 1, 2019, the bureau to, among other things, publish approved local equity ordinances and model equity ordinances created by advocacy groups and experts, as specified, and, on or before July 1 2020, to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the progress of local equity programs that receive funding pursuant to these provisions. This bill would remove the condition that a local jurisdiction request the technical assistance to a local equity program from the authorization of the bureau to provide the technical assistance. The bill would expand the purposes of the grant to include assisting a local jurisdiction in the development of a local equity program. The bill would require an eligible local jurisdiction that has a local equity program to include in its grant application the equity assessment that was used to inform the creation of the local equity program. The bill would expand the factors the bureau is required to consider when reviewing an equity program grant application, including, among others, how long the local jurisdiction has operated a local equity program and the outcomes of the program, if the local jurisdiction has adopted or operated a local equity program. The bill would delete the requirement that the bureau prorate funding if applications are greater than the amount appropriated for the program. The bill would expand the list of methods that grant funding is authorized to be used to assist local equity applicants and local equity licensees, including, among others, funding the creation of an equity assessment to inform the development of a local equity program and funding direct technical assistance to assist local equity applicants and local equity licensees. The bill would authorize the bureau to enter into an interagency agreement with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to administer on its behalf the provisions related to the review and granting of funding for cannabis equity programs. The bill would grant to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development all powers and authority granted to the bureau related to those provisions. The bill, until July 1, 2021, would authorize the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to review, adopt, amend, and repeal guidelines to implement uniform standards, criteria, requirements, or forms that supplement or clarify the terms, references, or standards set forth in specified provisions. The bill would require a grant recipient to include in the annual report described above specified information related to the local equity program and any other information the bureau determines to be necessary. The bill would require the bureau to serve as a point of contact for local equity programs in coordination with the other licensing authorities. The bill would require the report that the bureau is required to submit to the Legislature regarding the progress of local equity programs funded by these grants to be submitted annually and to include a copy of the equity assessment, as defined, and equity program descriptions of each local jurisdiction that applies for grant funding. (7) AUMA establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated fund consisting of specified taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts imposed by AUMA. AUMA requires, after other specified disbursements are made from the fund, the Controller, by July 15 of each fiscal year beginning in the 2018–2019 fiscal year, to disburse 60% of the funds deposited in the California Cannabis Fund during the prior fiscal year into the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account. AUMA requires the Controller to disburse the funds in the account to the State Department of Health Care Services for programs for youth that are designed to educate about and to prevent substance use disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. AUMA requires the State Department of Health Care Services to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Education to implement and administer these programs. The bill would exempt those contracts entered into or amended by the State Department of Health Care Services from specified provisions of law governing public contracting. (8) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (9) 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. (10) AUMA authorizes legislative amendment of its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses, without submission to the voters, to further its purposes and intent. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.