UPDATE 6/17/2014 – The bill passed by a vote of 10-2 through the Assembly Business and Professions committee and appears headed for the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, June 24. Stay tuned.
Read CalNORML’s letter on the bill and see the latest version of the bill.
To see the Business and Professions committee hearing, go to: http://www.calchannel.com/recent-archive/ and click on Assembly Business, Professions & Consumer Protection Committee for June 17. It starts around 2:15
UPDATE 6/16/2014 – New amendments to the bill have been posted. It’s heading to the Assembly Business and Professions committee on Tuesday, June 17.
UPDATE 6/12/2014 – The Correa bill has passed in the Senate and has had its first reading in the Assembly. The latest draft of SB 1262 is still woefully incomplete. It lacks any consumer protection provisions for product testing, safety or labeling; has no regulations for processing of edibles or testing, nor provisions regarding transportation. It fails to provide a phase-in period for the writing of regulations, or provisional licensing pending their finalization. It also provides no clear-cut exemptions from criminal penalties for licensees.
It is to be hoped that all of these shortcomings will be addressed by the author before the bill proceeds through the Assembly. SB 1262 was approved by the Senate on the understanding that the details would be filled in later. This will have to be done by the time the bill is heard by the Assembly during the week of June 23-7.
Californians with concerns about the bill should contact their Assemblymember. To find out who that is, click here.
Sacramento May 27 – The CA State Senate is expected to vote this week on Sen. Correa’s medical marijuana bill SB 1262. See current text of the measure.
The bill has been amended so as to give broad authority to local governments. In specific, under SB 1262:
– Licensing would be issued through the Dept. of Consumer Affairs instead of the Dept of Public Health.
– Anyone selling, providing, growing or processing marijuana could do so only at a state licensed site, except as allowed for patients and caregivers under Prop 215 and SB 420 (arguably, this might include some patient cultivation collectives).
– All licensees would be required to provide a certified copy of the local government’s approval to operate within its borders. Local jurisdictions would be free to prohibit any and all facilities they pleased.
– License fees would be set by the department to cover, but not exceed, actual costs of administration.
– All applicants would be subject to fingerprint background checks by the CA Dept of Justice and FBI. Applicants could be denied a license based on past criminal convictions if the crime was “substantially related” to the activities they are seeking a license for.
– Licensed facilities would have to comply with specified security measures: finished products to be stored in a secure locked vault; access restricted to patients, caregivers and facility personnel.
– Licensed cultivation facilities must weigh, inventory, and video record all marijuana to be transported from the site.
– Discrepancies in inventory must be reported to law enforcement within 24 hours
– Local jurisdictions could authorize any additional restrictions they wished.
– Violations punishable by a civil fine of up to $35,000 each. (In addition, other existing criminal penalties would remain in place for non-licensed offenders.)
– Physicians could not have any monetary connection with a state licensed facility.
– The California Medical Board would consult with the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research on developing guidelines for administration of medical marijuana.
– Advertisements by physicians would have to include a specified one-paragraph written notice to consumers.
– The bill does not specify any regulations regarding labeling, testing, product safety standards, etc.
Also approved on May 23 by the appropriations committee was Rep. Ammiano’s AB1894, which would put regulatory authority with the Alcohol Beverage Control agency. It is expected to be voted on in the Assembly this week. UPDATE 5/29: The Ammiano bill failed in the Assembly. See vote.
