Proposed California Cannabis Regulations Being Withdrawn
The California Cannabis Regulations are being overhauled. The proposed 211 pages of regulations for California medical cannabis regulations that were drafted up by the three state agencies over a period of more than a year and went for public comment on April 28, 2017 is now being withdrawn due to a new law that Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law in June 2017. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) also known as Senate Bill 94.
MAUCRSA is an attempt at overcoming the differences in the state’s medical and recreational cannabis laws. The new act conflicts with regulations proposed for the medical market by the three state agencies in charge of overseeing the cannabis industry in Californa. The Department of Consumer Affair’s Bureau of Cannabis Control, the Department of Publich Health and the Department of Food and Agriculture must now incorporate changes from this into the proposed regulations which are due out in Fall 2017.
The new rules will be crafted under an emergency rulemaking process that will bypass the normal publich hearing phase that the previous rules went through. They plan to still start issuing licenses January 2, 2018. Northcoast Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) said the departments knew this was coming and everyone was planning for it. With such a short period to draft the proposed rules there will not be time to release the revised regulations and hold public hearings. They do plan to do the public comment after the fact as they continue to fine tune the everything.
The executive director of California Growers Association Hezekiah Allen is generally happy with the changes made in the trailer bill and is not concerned about them skipping the publich hearing aspect at this point in time. Allen also said “We’ve been working with them pretty closely for more than a year now. We trust them.” He said “We wanted to get this done quickly. Growers are still criminals until we get licenses, technically speaking. So we appreciate an accelerated timeline.”
What Are The Old California Medical Cannabis Regulations
You can read the proposed regulations that are being withdrawn for a sense of what might come here. The proposed annual license fees for Cultivation range from $560 for a nursery to $21,915 for a medium mixed-Light property. However like everything else proposed these are being withdrawn so we will not know till the Fall just what the new emergency rulemaking process results will be.
Where To Find Out More About California Cannabis Industry
Here are some sites, organizations and other generally helpful cannabis information:
Who does what when it comes to cannabis regulations and the different departments, with the withdraw of recent regulations this may change. Click here for full cannabis infographic.
The CalCannabis website has a lot of helpful information on licensing and a newsletter you can subscribe to in order to stay up to date on cannabis licensing requirements here
Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation
The California Department of Consumer Affairs: Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation (BMCR) has details on licenses for the following:
- cannabis transportation
- cannabis distribution
- cannabis laboratory testing
- cannabis dispensaries
- and more
Cannabis Water Regulations
The State Water Resources Control Board’s cannabis cultivation regulatory program is in charge of developing and implementing new regulatory programs to address potential water quality and quantity issues related to cannabis cultivation and to be in line with the directives of the various state bills.
Cannabis Pesticide Use
The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is in charge of regulating the sale and use of pesticides in California, including its use on cannabis. The Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act of 2016 and the Adult Use of Marijuana Act further require DPR to provide guidelines for the use of pesticides in the cultivation of cannabis and to provide the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation guidelines on pesticide residue.
Manufacturing Of Cannabis Products
The Office of Manufactured Cannabis Safety (OMCS) is currently developing statewide standards, regulations, licensing procedures and to address policy issues in support of cannabis manufacturers. CDPH is responsible for issuing Type 6 and Type 7 licenses to manufacturers of cannabis and manufactured cannabis products.
