According to an abovethelaw.com, California Governor Jerry Brown recently proposed changes to the Budget Trailer Bill. The Bill addresses the Govenors vision for consolidating the regulatory framework for the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MCRSA”), approved by California voters in 2015 and the Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Cannabis Act (“AUMA”), in response to California voters in 2016. Above The Law lays out an outline of the Governor’s 79 page proposal reporting it would:
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Change the name of the AUMA to the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act;
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Mandate anyone seeking to operate an adult use cannabis business apply for “A-Licenses,” and those seeking to open a medical cannabis business will apply for “M-Licenses.” You can apply for both kinds of licenses and operate both kinds of businesses, but you cannot co-locate those businesses on the same premises;
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Remove AUMA’s requirement of “continuous residency” in California from at least January 1, 2015;
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Hybridize the process for local approval prior to licensure by allowing licensees to submit proof of local approval to the state, but leaving it up to local governments to ensure the license applicant is in compliance with local laws;
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Keep AUMA’s near total vertical integration of licenses except for testing labs, which must be independent of other licensees;
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Allow AUMA’s open distributor model for both medical and adult use cannabis businesses by allowing “a business to hold multiple licenses including a distribution license … [to] make it easier for businesses to enter the market, encourage innovation, and strengthen compliance with state law”;
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Define “applicant” as “an owner applying for a state license,” and define “owner” as any person having at least 20 percent ownership, or any person who participates in the “direction, control, or management” of the business;
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Require each cannabis business owner to pass a Department of Justice fingerprinting and criminal background check and each applicant to disclose “every person with a financial interest in the person applying for the license as required by the licensing authority”;
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Support the AUMA’s more liberal allowance for cultivation licenses;
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Add a new cultivation license — Type 1C, identified as “specialty cottage” — which will mean California will have 20 types of cannabis business licenses;
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Require microbusinesses (licenses only available under the AUMA) secure regulatory approval from the Bureau of Cannabis Control and the Departments of Food and Agriculture and Public Health;
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Mandate the AUMA and MCRSA have the same environmental protections and restrictions on licensees; and
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Task California’s Department of Food and Agriculture, not its Bureau of Cannabis Control, to create California’s cannabis appellation standards by January 1, 2020.
Source: California Set To Harmonize Recreational And Medical Marijuana Laws | Above the Law
