UPDATE 5/31/2023 – Several of the bills we have been lobbying on have passed their floor votes. Thanks to all who took action! We will now move to committee hearings in the other houses.

PASSED IN HOUSE WHERE INTRODUCED:

SB 302 (Stern) would extend Ryan’s Law, requiring specified health-care facilities to allow terminally ill patients to use nonsmoked (or vaped) forms of cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation. The Stern bill, if passed, would extend these protections to patients 65 and over with chronic diseases. HAS PASSED THE SENATE FLOOR. Write A Letter to Your Assemblymember in Support of SB 302. 

SB 512 (Bradford) would end double taxation of cannabis by excluding excise and local taxes from the definition of “gross receipts” for tax purposes. PASSED ON SENATE FLOOR. Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 512. 

Two bills, AB 374 (Haney) and SB 285 (Allen), seek to expand on the activities that cannabis retailers may engage in. The Haney bill states that a local jurisdiction may allow activities including, but not limited to, selling non-cannabis-infused food, selling nonalcoholic beverages, and selling tickets for live musical or other performances. The Allen bill would authorize a local jurisdiction to allow for the preparation or sale of noncannabis food or beverage products by a licensed retailer or microbusiness in the area where the consumption of cannabis is allowed. BOTH BILLS HAVE PASSED IN THE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE INTRODUCED AND WILL “CROSS OVER” TO THE OTHER HOUSE FOR COMMITTEE HEARINGS. Tell Your State Senator to Support AB 374 and Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 285. 

SB 51 (Bradford) would allow the DCC to issue a provisional license for a local equity applicant for retailer activities, indefinitely, if the applicant meets specified requirements. PASSED ON SENATE FLOOR. Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 51. 

SB 700 (Bradford) would amend the employment rights bill Cal NORML sponsored last year to add, “It is unlawful for an employer to request information from an applicant for employment relating to the applicant’s prior use of cannabis.” PASSED ON SENATE FLOOR. Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 700. 

AB 1610 (Jones-Sawyer), the Truth and Transparency in Cannabis Testing Act, would protect cannabis consumers and the legal cannabis market by ensuring products are accurately labeled, and provide greater transparency in product testing. It will also strengthen product recall procedures and reporting for products found to contain dangerous levels of pesticides and other contaminants. Tell Your State Senator to Support AB 1610.

CONSUMER AND PATIENT PROTECTIONS

SB 302 (Stern) would extend Ryan’s Law, requiring specified health-care facilities to allow terminally ill patients to use nonsmoked (or vaped) forms of cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation. The Stern bill, if passed, would extend these protections to patients 65 and over with chronic diseases. HAS PASSED SENATE FLOOR. Write A Letter to Your Assemblymember in Support of SB 302. 

SB 540 (Laird) would require DCC and CDPH to create and post for public use a brochure that includes implications and risks associated with cannabis use. PASSED SENATE APPROPRIATIONS; HEADING TO SENATE FLOOR. Cal NORML has asked for amendments to this bill.

AB 741 (Jones-Sawyer) would prohibit the California FAIR Plan Association from refusing insure anyone who possesses or has previously possessed a legal amount of cannabis, concentrated cannabis, or living cannabis plants, or the applicant or policyholder is or has been a commercial cannabis licensee. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR.

AB 794 (Flora) would require all cannabis advertisements and marketing include the licensee’s name in addition to the licensee number. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR.

AB 1126 (Lackey) would specify that a citation issued by the DCC may be for a claim or representation of a product as licensed cannabis without a license, including the unlicensed use of the cannabis universal symbol. PASSED ASSEMBLY FLOOR; HEADING FOR SENATE. Cal NORML position: support.

AB 1619 (Dixon) would require a pharmacy or healing arts licensee that dispenses a prescription drug to a patient for outpatient use that has major or moderate interactions with cannabis or cannabidiol products to display on the label or container adequate warning of those interactions. A violation of this requirement would be a crime. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR.

EQUITY PROTECTIONS / EXPANDING ACCESS / HUMAN RIGHTS

SB 51 (Bradford) would allow the DCC to issue a provisional license for a local equity applicant for retailer activities, indefinitely, if the applicant meets specified requirements. PASSED SENATE FLOOR. REQUIRES 2/3 VOTE. Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 51. 

SB 700 (Bradford) would amend the employment rights bill Cal NORML sponsored last year to add, “It is unlawful for an employer to request information from an applicant for employment relating to the applicant’s prior use of cannabis.” PASSED SENATE FLOOR. Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 700. 

AB 1565 (Jones-Sawyer) would require, effective July 1, 2028, the Controller to disburse up to $15,000,000, as specified, to the department from the California Cannabis Tax Fund for the 2028–29 fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter. The bill would require the department to use the disbursements to support local equity programs in eligible local jurisdictions to assist local equity applicants and licensees gaining entry into, and to successfully operate in, the state’s regulated cannabis marketplace, as specified. PASSED ASSEMBLY FLOOR. Tell Your State Senator to Vote Yes on AB 1565.

AB 1424 (Jones-Sawyer) would amend Labor Code to protect cannabis delivery employees against being laid off, discharged, or subject to an adverse employment action for refusing to perform work in violation of prescribed safety standards or work that would create a real and apparent hazard to the employee or fellow employees. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR.

AB-1094 (Wicks) would prohibit medical personnel from performing a drug or alcohol test or screen on a pregnant person, perinatal person, or newborn without the prior written and verbal informed consent, and would require the test or screen to be medically necessary to provide care. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR. Cal NORML position: support.

AB 471 (Kalra) would authorize the DCC to issue a state caterer license authorizing the licensee to serve cannabis or cannabis products at a private event approved by a local jurisdiction. A similar bill from Asm. Kalra stalled in committee last year. HELD IN APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE.

BUSINESS 

SB 512 (Bradford) would exclude excise and local taxes from the definition of “gross receipts” for tax purposes. PASSED SENATE FLOOR.  Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 512. 

Two bills, AB 374 (Haney) and SB 285 (Allen), seek to expand on the activities that cannabis retailers may engage in. The Haney bill states that a local jurisdiction may allow activities including, but not limited to, selling non-cannabis-infused food, selling nonalcoholic beverages, and selling tickets for live musical or other performances. The Allen bill would authorize a local jurisdiction to allow for the preparation or sale of noncannabis food or beverage products by a licensed retailer or microbusiness in the area where the consumption of cannabis is allowed. BOTH BILLS HAVE PASSED IN THE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE INTRODUCED AND WILL “CROSS OVER” TO THE OTHER HOUSE FOR COMMITTEE HEARINGS. Tell Your State Senator to Support AB 374 and Tell Your Assemblymember to Support SB 285. 

AB 1111 (Pellerin) has been amended to require the DCC to issue small producer event sales licenses that authorize the license holder to sell cannabis or cannabis products, containing cannabis cultivated by that licensee, at specified state-licensed temporary events. Asm. Wood and Sen. McGuire are co-authors. PASSED ASSEMBLY. HEADING TO SENATE COMMITTEE HEARINGS.

AB 1207 (Irwin) has several provisions aimed at ensuring edible products aren’t attractive to children, and banning certain flavors in vapes and inhaled products. PASSED ON THE ASSEMBLY FLOOR. Heads to senate committees.

SB 508 (Laird) would provide that CEQA does not apply to the issuance of a state license to engage in commercial cannabis activity if the local jurisdiction has filed a notice of exemption. HEADING TO THE ASSEMBLY FLOOR.

SB 622 (Allen) would allow plant markers to be somewhere other than at the base of each cannabis plant and make other changes. PASSED SENATE FLOOR; HEADING TO ASSEMBLY COMMITTEES.  REQUIRES 2/3 VOTE.

AB 993 (Blanca Rubio) would expand the state task force on regulation of commercial cannabis activity to include representatives from the Civil Rights Department and the Department of Industrial Relations. (This task force is to meet by July 2023 and exist until Jan 2025.) PASSED ASSEMBLY FLOOR. HEADING TO SENATE HEARINGS.

SB 833 (McGuire) would require the DCC, no later than March 1, 2024, to establish a cannabis licensing fallowing program for cannabis cultivators who choose to reduce or temporarily pause cultivating cannabis under their license. HEADING TO THE SENATE FLOOR.  REQUIRES 2/3 VOTE.

AB 351 (Chen) would allow for cannabis business license transfers. THIS BILL DID NOT ADVANCE.

AB 766 (Ting) would provide oversight powers to the Department of Cannabis Control to ensure timely payment of goods across the supply chain. It is sponsored by the Cannabis Distribution Association. THIS BILL DID NOT ADVANCE.

AB 1719 (Bonta) 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. THIS BILL DID NOT ADVANCE.

HEMP

AB 420 (Aguiar-Curry) would clear the way for licensed cannabis businesses to manufacture, distribute, or sell products that contain industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp, if the product complies with all applicable state laws and regulations. The law would build on Asm. Aguiar-Curry’s prior hemp bills, one of which required the DCC to prepare a report on integrating hemp products into cannabis supply chain, and made psychoactive hemp products illegal in California. PASSED ASSEMBLY  FLOOR.

ENFORCEMENT

SB 820 (Alvarado-Gil) would authorize the DCC or any local jurisdiction to seize specified property in the place or building, or within any yard or enclosure, where commercial cannabis activity is conducted without a license required by MAUCRSA, and to seize any vehicle used to conceal, convey, carry, deliver, or transport cannabis or cannabis products by or for a person engaging in commercial cannabis activity without that license. The bill would impose requirements for notice of seizure, forfeiture proceedings, and the sale and distribution of proceeds upon a judgment in favor of the forfeiture. NOW A TWO-YEAR BILL; WON’T SEE FURTHER HEARINGS THIS YEAR. Cal NORML position: oppose.

SB 753 (Caballero) would add planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, or processing marijuana that results in substantial environmental harm to surface or groundwater, a violation of pesticide provisions, taking or using water from a conveyance or storage facility without permission, and extraction or use of groundwater from an unpermitted well or from a permitted well in excess of a restriction, to conditions for which a felony crime may be charged. PASSED SENATE  FLOOR. HEADING TO ASSEMBLY COMMITTEES.

AB 1448 (Wallis) would recast the law to say in an action brought by a county counsel, city attorney, or city prosecutor, the penalty first be used to reimburse the prosecuting agency for specified costs in bringing the action, with 50% of the remainder, if any, paid to the county or city, as applicable, and the other 50% to be deposited into the General Fund. HEADING TO ASSEMBLY  FLOOR.

SB 756 (Laird) would expand methods of notice for those purposes to include notice in accordance with the manner of service of a summons under specified provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure or by any method of physical delivery that provides a receipt, etc. It would authorize a regional board to conduct an investigation into an unlicensed cannabis cultivation site, as specified. HEADING TO SENATE  FLOOR.

AB 1616 (Lackey) would require the Board of State and Community Corrections, in dispersing California Cannabis Tax Fund monies, to prioritize local governments whose programs seek to address the unlawful cultivation and sale of cannabis. The bill would also authorize the board to make grants to local governments that ban both indoor and outdoor commercial cannabis cultivation, or ban retail sale of cannabis or cannabis products. Since it amends Prop. 64, it would require a 2/3 vote (and arguably it doesn’t comport with 64’s intent to reward local jurisdictions that license cannabis businesses). HEADING TO ASSEMBLY  FLOOR. REQUIRES 2/3 VOTE.

AB 1171 (Blanca Rubio) would establish a private right of action against unlicensed cannabis businesses. PASSED ASSEMBLY FLOOR. HEADING TO SENATE  HEARINGS.