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SB-581 Cannabis: licensing: public records.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 09/03/2019 09:00 PM
SB581:v94#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  September 03, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  August 13, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  April 25, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  April 10, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  March 28, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 581

Introduced by Senator Caballero

February 22, 2019

An act to add Section 26055.2 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to cannabis.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 581, as amended, Caballero. Cannabis: licensing: public records.
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 establishes the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel and authorizes any person aggrieved by specified decisions of a licensing authority related to disciplining any license to appeal the licensing authority’s written decision to the panel.
Existing law regulates the disclosure of personal information by government agencies related to, among others, social security numbers, business records, drivers license numbers, medical information, and credit reporting information.
This bill, on and after January 1, 2022, would require the licensing authorities either to post on their internet websites or through the California Cannabis Portal, or to make available at least weekly via LISTSERV in a comma-separated values (.csv) format, as specified, certain information regarding a pending an applicant or a licensee, including specified disciplinary actions taken by a licensing authority or a regulator of another state or jurisdiction. The bill, on and after January 1, 2022, would authorize the licensing authorities to disclose this information by linking to original documents. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed as requiring the disclosure of any information that is prohibited from disclosure under any state or federal law. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, an initiative measure, authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 2/3 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature.
This bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and intent of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Because cannabis is ingested by consumers and manufactured and grown by natural persons, the effective regulation of cannabis urgently implicates public health.
(b) Section 6250 of the Government Code provides that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state and courts have held that the public has a right to monitor information revealing the operations of state government.
(c) Members of the public should not be required to file repetitive California Public Records Act requests simply to obtain information about cannabis applicants and licensees.
(d) Comparable licensing agencies such as those within the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control have long disclosed basic applicant and licensee information through the internet.
(e) Consumers should easily be able to check on the licensing and disciplinary records of those who are selling them cannabis to ingest and workers should be able easily to check on the licensing and disciplinary records of those who will employ them to work with and around cannabis. The agencies that regulate cannabis should disclose on the internet information that is public record about applicants and licensees.

SEC. 2.

 Section 26055.2 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

26055.2.
 (a) A licensing authority shall either post on its internet website or on the California Cannabis Portal Portal, or make available at least weekly via LISTSERV in a comma-separated values (.csv) format the following information submitted as part of a pending an application pursuant to Section 26051.5 regarding an applicant if the information is in the possession, custody, and control of the licensing authority:
(1) The name, city, county, and ZIP Code of the business, and license type of the applicant and each owner as defined in Section 26001 and any regulations promulgated thereunder.
(2) The date the application was submitted.
(3) The status of the application.
(4) Any violation of the Labor Code within the preceding seven years from the date of application that was disclosed on the application.
(b) A licensing authority shall either post on its internet website or on the California Cannabis Portal Portal, or make available at least weekly via LISTSERV in a comma-separated values (.csv) format the following information regarding a licensee if the information is in the possession, custody, and control of the licensing authority:
(1) The information described in subdivision (a).
(2) Whether or not the license is valid and whether the licensing authority has placed restrictions on the license.

(3)Any criminal conviction of any owner of an offense that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the business or profession for which the license was issued as determined pursuant to Section 26057 and any regulations promulgated thereunder, that was committed after the license was issued, and that is either of the following:

(A)A felony conviction. Upon receipt of a certified copy of an expungement order granted pursuant to Section 1203.4 of the Penal Code from a licensee, the board shall, within six months of receipt of the expungement order, post notification of the expungement order and the date thereof on its internet website.

(B)A misdemeanor conviction resulting in a disciplinary action or accusation that is not subsequently withdrawn or dismissed. Upon receipt of a certified copy of an expungement order granted pursuant to Section 1203.4 of the Penal Code from a licensee, the board shall, within six months of receipt of the expungement order, post notification of the expungement order and the date thereof on its internet website.

(4)

(3) Any civil penalty or judgment rendered against the licensee or any owner resulting from a complaint related to the services provided by the licensee or owner under the privileges of their license, or related to issues of consumer protection, labor law violations, unfair business practice, or fraud.

(5)

(4) Any of the following enforcement actions or proceedings to which the licensee is the subject and based on causes of actions that occurred after the license was issued:
(A) Temporary restraining order.
(B) Interim suspension order.
(C) Current accusations filed by the Attorney General, including accusations that are on appeal. For purposes of this paragraph, “current accusation” means an accusation that has not been dismissed, withdrawn, or settled, and has not been finally decided upon by an administrative law judge or the licensing authority, unless an appeal of that decision is pending.
(D) Citations or fines issued within the last seven years.
(E) Any final revocations and suspensions, or other equivalent actions, taken against the licensee by a licensing authority or a regulator of another state or jurisdiction or the surrender of a license by the licensee in relation to a disciplinary action or investigation, including the operative accusation resulting in the license surrender or discipline.
(F) Probation or other equivalent actions, taken against the licensee by a licensing authority or a regulator of another state or jurisdiction, completed or terminated, including the operative accusation resulting in the discipline.
(c) The information required to be posted If the licensing authority posts the information on its internet website or on the California Cannabis Portal pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) (b), the information shall be prominently linked from either the home page of the licensing authority or the California Cannabis Portal.
(d) The licensing authority may disclose the information required to be posted pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) by linking to original documents.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring the disclosure of any information that is prohibited from disclosure under any state or federal law.

(f)For purposes of this section, “licensing authority” means the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the State Department of Public Health, and the Department of Food and Agriculture.

(g)

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2022.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that this act furthers the purposes and intent of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.