Cannabis licensing: cultivation licenses: changing license type: inactive status.

(1) Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. 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. Under existing law, the Department of Cannabis Control may issue cannabis cultivation licenses to commercial cannabis businesses that differ depending on the size of the cultivation site and whether the site is indoor, outdoor, or mixed-light. Existing law requires the department to charge each licensee a licensure and renewal fee, as applicable. This bill would require the department, beginning no later than March 1, 2024, to allow a cultivation licensee to change the type of size of a cultivation license or to place a cultivation license in inactive status. The bill would authorize a licensee, at the license renewal, to change an existing cultivation license to a type with a smaller maximum canopy size, and at each subsequent license renewal, to restore the original type, maintain the type that the license was changed to at the license renewal, or change to a different type with a maximum canopy size smaller than the original type. The bill would prohibit a licensee who holds a license in inactive status from engaging in the cultivation of cannabis, except as specified, would require a license in inactive status to remain in inactive status until the license is next renewed, and would require a licensee who holds a license in inactive status to pay a reduced license fee. The bill would require the department, in implementing these provisions, to allow each licensee a one-time opportunity to change the date of license renewal. (2) AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a 23 vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes and intent. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA.