BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 26
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
26 (Jones-Sawyer)
As Amended January 25, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Business & |13-0 |Bonilla, Baker, |Chang, Brough, |
|Professions | |Bloom, Campos, Chang, |Jones, Waldron |
| | |Dodd, Eggman, Gatto, | |
| | |Holden, Mullin, Ting, | |
| | |Wilk, Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |13-0 |Gomez, Bloom, | |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Daly, Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires a licensee under the Medical Marijuana
Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) to institute and maintain a
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training program to educate, inform, and train the licensee's
agents and employees regarding compliance with the MMRSA, and
requires the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation (Bureau) to
approve and regulate the training programs. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires a licensee to institute and maintain a training
program to educate, inform, and train the licensee's agents
and employees regarding compliance with the MMRSA.
2)Requires the Bureau to adopt standards for the approval of
training programs and to be the sole state agency responsible
for approving and regulating the training programs.
3)Prohibits the Bureau from approving a training program
provided or proposed to be provided by or through an
apprenticeship program approved by the Chief of the Division
of Apprenticeship Standards.
4)Requires an application for state licensure to include a
detailed description of the applicant's training program.
5)Requires a state licensing authority to deny the application
of an applicant that does not have or revoke the license of a
state licensee that fails to institute or maintain a program
approved by the licensing authority.
6)Requires the state licensing authority to charge each training
program a fee to cover costs incurred for approving the
training program, but limits the total fees to no more than
reasonable regulatory costs for the approval.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this estimate is subject to significant uncertainty,
as the number of licensees, the number of training programs, the
complexity of the training, and numerous operational decisions
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are all unknown at this time. Staff estimates California
Department of Public Health (CDPH), California Department of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and the Bureau may incur the
following total costs (funded through an already authorized
General Fund (GF) loan to the Medical Marijuana Regulation and
Safety Act Fund, paid back through training program approval fee
revenue):
1)Developing training program standards, and developing
processes for application and review of training programs,
would likely result in contract or staff costs in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
2)Costs for initial verification of training programs could
range from minor to significant, depending on how many
training programs apply for approval.
3)Unknown costs to verify licensees are implementing training
programs in. If on-site visits are required, costs could be
significant. Any ongoing costs for this activity will be
recovered through training approval fees.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the United Food and
Commercial Workers Union, Western States Council (UFCW).
According to the author, "It is essential that everyone
working in the medical marijuana industry be trained. Whether
they are working with patients in a dispensary, cultivating at
farms or assisting in the manufacture and processing of
products for consumption, they must be given training. These
workers, patients and the public need to know that those in
the medical marijuana industry are educated in the health,
safety and security standards set by the state."
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The MMRSA. The MMRSA consisted of three separate bills which
were enacted together on Sept 11, 2015, to bring licensure and
regulation to the medical marijuana industry nearly 20 years
after the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized
the use of medical marijuana. The bills created a
comprehensive state licensing system for the commercial
cultivation, manufacture, retail sale, transport,
distribution, delivery, and testing of medical cannabis. In
addition, the bills affirm local control and require licensure
by both a local government and the state in order for a
licensee to operate. The MMRSA went into effect on January 1,
2016, although licensure requirements will not go into effect
until the regulatory entities responsible for implementing the
act pass necessary regulations.
Among other things, the MMRSA establishes the new Bureau under
the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is responsible for
licensing and regulating dispensaries, transporters, and
distributors. In addition, the CDPH is responsible for
regulating manufacturers, testing laboratories, and the
production and labeling of edible medical marijuana products.
The CDFA is responsible for regulating cultivation, and other
state agencies, such as the Department of Pesticide Regulation
and the State Water Resources Control Board, are responsible
for developing environmental standards.
Under the MMRSA, applicants seeking licensure to cultivate,
distribute, or manufacture medical cannabis are required to
include a detailed description of the applicant's operating
procedures for cultivation, extraction and infusion methods,
transportation process, inventory procedures, and quality
control procedures. This bill would additionally require all
applicants, including dispensaries and testing laboratories,
to include a detailed description of a training program for
its agents and employees, to be approved by the Bureau, as a
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condition of licensure. Under the bill, the licensee would
institute and maintain the training program for its agents and
employees on compliance with the MMRSA. The training program
must also include training on legal requirements, best
industry practices, occupational health and safety standards,
and company policies. The Bureau would be required to adopt
standards to approve these training programs, and to regulate
these training programs.
Medical Marijuana Training and Education. Currently, there is a
small offering of voluntary education and training for persons
in the medical marijuana industry, ranging from schools that
provide a complete curriculum and certification program on
cannabis, to individual seminars and courses about the
industry. However, because this industry has not previously
been regulated, there are no statewide standards for what this
type of training should include.
While this bill would impose mandatory training for a licensee's
employees and agents, at least one state, Colorado, has
adopted a similar albeit voluntary approach to training.
Under Colorado's Responsible Vendor Training Program, a
licensee may receive a responsible vendor designation if all
of its employees who sell or handle medical marijuana,
managers, and resident owners complete a medical marijuana
training program offered by a state approved provider. While
the program is voluntary, the benefit of such designation is
that if a local or state licensing authority initiates an
administrative action against a designated licensee, the
licensing authority may consider the designation as a
mitigating factor when imposing sanctions or penalties on the
licensee. The training programs are required to be at least
two hours long, and must have a core curriculum of relevant
statutory and regulatory requirements, including information
on proper identification of patients, age requirements, record
maintenance, liability, and enforcement. The training is also
required to include information about marijuana's effects on
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the human body based on type of marijuana product, the amount
of time to feel impairment, and health and safety standards.
Currently, Colorado has four state approved responsible vendor
training programs, with training programs costing roughly $150
per person per course.
Analysis Prepared by: Gabby Nepomuceno /
B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0002590