Amended in Senate January 15, 2016

Amended in Senate January 4, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 5, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 21

Introduced by Assembly Members begin insert Wood, end insert Bonta, Cooley, Jones-Sawyer, begin delete Lackey, and Wood end delete begin insert and Lackey end insert

(Principal coauthor: Senator McGuire)

December 1, 2014

An act to amend Section 11362.777 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to medical marijuana, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 21, as amended, begin delete Bonta end delete begin insert Wood end insert . Medical marijuana: cultivation licenses.

Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law, enacted by the Legislature, provides for the licensing and regulation by both state and local entities of medical marijuana and its cultivation. Existing law provides that if a city, county, or city and county does not have land use regulations or ordinances regulating or prohibiting the cultivation of marijuana, commencing March 1, 2016, the Department of Food and Agriculture is the sole licensing authority for medical marijuana cultivation applicants in that city, county, or city and county.

This bill would delete the provision that grants the department the sole licensing authority under those circumstances.

begin insert

Existing law exempts certain persons cultivating medical marijuana from the requirement to obtain both a state license from the Department of Food and Agriculture and a license, permit, or other entitlement allowing cultivation from the city, county, or city and county in which the cultivation will occur. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to regulate or ban the cultivation, storage, manufacture, transport, provision, or other activity by a person otherwise exempt from state regulation, or to enforce that regulation or ban.

end insert begin insert

This bill would delete the authorization of a city, county, or city and county to regulate or ban the cultivation, storage, manufacture, transport, provision, or other activity by a person otherwise exempt from state regulation under the program, or to enforce that regulation or ban.

end insert

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 11362.777 of the Health and Safety Code
is amended to read:

11362.777.  

(a) The Department of Food and Agriculture shall
establish a Medical Cannabis Cultivation Program to be
administered by the secretary and, except as specified in
subdivision (c), shall administer this section as it pertains to the
cultivation of medical marijuana. For purposes of this section and
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 19300) begin insert of Division 8 end insert of
the Business and Professions Code, medical cannabis is an
agricultural product.

(b) (1) A person or entity shall not cultivate medical marijuana
without first obtaining both of the following:

(A) A license, permit, or other entitlement, specifically
permitting cultivation pursuant to these provisions, from the city,
county, or city and county in which the cultivation will occur.

(B) A state license issued by the department pursuant to this
section.

(2) A person or entity shall not submit an application for a state
license issued by the department pursuant to this section unless
that person or entity has received a license, permit, or other
entitlement, specifically permitting cultivation pursuant to these
provisions, from the city, county, or city and county in which the
cultivation will occur.

(3) A person or entity shall not submit an application for a state
license issued by the department pursuant to this section if the
proposed cultivation of marijuana will violate the provisions of
any local ordinance or regulation, or if medical marijuana is
prohibited by the city, county, or city and county in which the
cultivation is proposed to occur, either expressly or otherwise
under principles of permissive zoning.

(c) (1) Except as otherwise specified in this subdivision, and
without limiting any other local regulation, a city, county, or city
and county, through its current or future land use regulations or
ordinance, may issue or deny a permit to cultivate medical
marijuana pursuant to this section. A city, county, or city and
county may inspect the intended cultivation site for suitability begin delete prior
to end delete begin insert before end insert issuing a permit. After the city, county, or city and county
has approved a permit, the applicant shall apply for a state medical
marijuana cultivation license from the department. A locally issued
cultivation permit shall only become active upon licensing by the
department and receiving final local approval. A person shall not
cultivate medical marijuana begin delete prior to end delete begin insert before end insert obtaining both a permit
from the city, county, or city and county and a state medical
marijuana cultivation license from the department.

(2) A city, county, or city and county that issues or denies
conditional licenses to cultivate medical marijuana pursuant to this
section shall notify the department in a manner prescribed by the
secretary.

(3) A city, county, or city and county’s locally issued conditional
permit requirements must be at least as stringent as the
department’s state licensing requirements.

(d) (1) The secretary may prescribe, adopt, and enforce
regulations relating to the implementation, administration, and
enforcement of this part, including, but not limited to, applicant
requirements, collections, reporting, refunds, and appeals.

(2) The secretary may prescribe, adopt, and enforce any
emergency regulations as necessary to implement this part. Any
emergency regulation prescribed, adopted, or enforced pursuant
to this section shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code, and, for purposes of that chapter,
including Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the adoption
of the regulation is an emergency and shall be considered by the
Office of Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and general
welfare.

(3) The secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with
a county agricultural commissioner to carry out the provisions of
this chapter, including, but not limited to, administration,
investigations, inspections, licensing and assistance pertaining to
the cultivation of medical marijuana. Compensation under the
cooperative agreement shall be paid from assessments and fees
collected and deposited pursuant to this chapter and shall provide
reimbursement to the county agricultural commissioner for
associated costs.

(e) (1) The department, in consultation with, but not limited
to, the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, the State Water
Resources Control Board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife,
shall implement a unique identification program for medical
marijuana. In implementing the program, the department shall
consider issues, including, but not limited to, water use and
environmental impacts. In implementing the program, the
department shall ensure that:

(A) Individual and cumulative effects of water diversion and
discharge associated with cultivation do not affect the instream
flows needed for fish spawning, migration, and rearing, and the
flows needed to maintain natural flow variability.

(B) Cultivation will not negatively impact springs, riparian
wetlands, and aquatic habitats.

(2) The department shall establish a program for the
identification of permitted medical marijuana plants at a cultivation
site during the cultivation period. The unique identifier shall be
attached at the base of each plant. A unique identifier, such as, but
not limited to, a zip tie, shall be issued for each medical marijuana
plant.

(A) Unique identifiers will only be issued to those persons
appropriately licensed by this section.

(B) Information associated with the assigned unique identifier
and licensee shall be included in the trace and track program
specified in Section 19335 of the Business and Professions Code.

(C) The department may charge a fee to cover the reasonable
costs of issuing the unique identifier and monitoring, tracking, and
inspecting each medical marijuana plant.

(D) The department may promulgate regulations to implement
this section.

(3) The department shall take adequate steps to establish
protections against fraudulent unique identifiers and limit illegal
diversion of unique identifiers to unlicensed persons.

(f) (1) A city, county, or city and county that issues or denies
licenses to cultivate medical marijuana pursuant to this section
shall notify the department in a manner prescribed by the secretary.

(2) Unique identifiers and associated identifying information
administered by a city or county shall adhere to the requirements
set by the department and be the equivalent to those administered
by the department.

(g) This section does not apply to a qualified patient cultivating
marijuana pursuant to Section 11362.5 if the area he or she uses
to cultivate marijuana does not exceed 100 square feet and he or
she cultivates marijuana for his or her personal medical use and
does not sell, distribute, donate, or provide marijuana to any other
person or entity. This section does not apply to a primary caregiver
cultivating marijuana pursuant to Section 11362.5 if the area he
or she uses to cultivate marijuana does not exceed 500 square feet
and he or she cultivates marijuana exclusively for the personal
medical use of no more than five specified qualified patients for
whom he or she is the primary caregiver within the meaning of
Section 11362.7 and does not receive remuneration for these
activities, except for compensation provided in full compliance
with subdivision (c) of Section 11362.765. For purposes of this
section, the area used to cultivate marijuana shall be measured by
the aggregate area of vegetative growth of live marijuana plants
on the premises. begin delete Exemption from the requirements of this section
does not limit or prevent a city, county, or city and county from
regulating or banning the cultivation, storage, manufacture,
transport, provision, or other activity by the exempt person, or
impair the enforcement of that regulation or ban. end delete

SEC. 2.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

To allow local governments to protect the health of their citizens
by regulating marijuana at the earliest possible date, it is necessary
that this act take effect immediately.