Cannabis: California Environmental Quality Act.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure, 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, and requires the Department of Cannabis Control to administer its provisions. MAUCRSA requires an applicant for a state license to provide certain information regarding the proposed premises where the license privileges will be exercised, as specified, and prohibits a licensee from materially or substantially altering the premises, or the use of the premises, unless approved by the department, as specified. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA makes various statutory exemptions from its requirements and requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, CEQA implementation guidelines that include, among other things, a list of categorical exemptions. This bill would provide that CEQA does not apply to specified actions taken by the department or a local jurisdiction that authorize commercial cannabis activity consisting of retail, distribution, manufacture, or laboratory testing, if specified conditions related to the premises are met.