The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (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 Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Public Health. MAUCRSA requires a licensing authority to establish a scale of application, licensing, and renewal fees, based upon the cost of enforcing MAUCRSA, as specified.

Existing law, the California Cannabis Equity Act of 2018, authorizes the Bureau of Cannabis Control, 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. Existing law, 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. Existing law requires an eligible local jurisdiction that receives grant funds pursuant to these provisions to use the grant funds to provide prescribed assistance to local equity applicants and licensees within that jurisdiction. Existing law authorizes a local equity program to include tiered fees or fee waivers for cannabis-related permits and licenses.

This bill would require a state licensing authority, on or before January 1, 2021, to develop and implement a program to provide a deferral or waiver for an application fee, a licensing fee, or a renewal fee for a needs-based applicant or needs-based licensee. The bill would require at least 60% of the total dollar amount of deferrals of fees pursuant to the program to be allocated to the deferral of fees for local equity applicants and licensees, and would require at least 60% of the total dollar amount of waivers of fees pursuant to the program to be allocated to the waiver of fees for local equity applicants and licensees. The bill would authorize a licensing authority to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would condition its operation upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this provision.

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, except as provided.

This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.