BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 243|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 243
Author: Wood (D), et al.
Amended: 9/1/15 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Nguyen, Moorlach
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/15/15
AYES: Wieckowski, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines, Bates
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-15, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Medical marijuana cultivation
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill states the Legislature's intent to enact
legislation that would establish, a dedicated funding source to
address environmental damages resulting from illegal cannabis
cultivation.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Compassionate Use Act, which:
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a) Authorizes the use and cultivation of marijuana for
medical purposes.
b) Allows qualified patients, persons with valid
identification cards and the designated primary caregivers
of qualified patients and persons with identification
cards, who associate in order collectively and
cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes,
are not subject to criminal sanctions solely on the basis
of that fact.
c) Makes it a crime to plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or
process marijuana, except as otherwise authorized by law.
1)Allows patients and primary caregivers to collectively and
cooperatively cultivate medical marijuana and established a
medical marijuana card program for patients to use on a
voluntary basis.
2)Regulates various aspects of agricultural production,
including water use, pesticide use and land use.
3)Allows local governments, through their police power, to
regulate, restrict, or ban the cultivation or distribution of
marijuana within their jurisdictions.
This bill:
1)States the Legislature's intent to enact legislation that
would establish a dedicated funding source, to address
environmental damages resulting from illegal cannabis
cultivation.
2)Makes the enactment of the bill contingent on the enactment of
AB 266 (Bonta) and SB 643 (McGuire).
Background
The Compassionate Use Act and SB 420. In 1996, voters approved
Proposition 215, known as the Compassionate use Act of 1996
(CUA). The CUA allowed patients and primary caregivers to
obtain and use medical marijuana, as recommended by a physician
and prohibited physicians from being punished or denied any
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right or privilege for making a medical marijuana recommendation
to a patient. In 2003, SB 420 (Vasconcellos, Chapter 875)
allowed patients and primary caregivers to collectively and
cooperatively cultivate medical marijuana and established a
medical marijuana card program for patients to use on a
voluntary basis. However, since the passage of Proposition 215
and SB 420, the state has not adopted a framework to provide for
appropriate licensure and regulation of medical marijuana. In
addition, despite the CUA and SB 420, marijuana is still illegal
under state and federal law.
Local authority over medical marijuana. By exempting qualified
patients and caregivers from prosecution for using or from
collectively, or cooperatively cultivating medical marijuana,
the CUA and SB 420 essentially authorized the cultivation and
use of medical marijuana. These laws have triggered the growth
of medical marijuana dispensaries in many localities and in
response, local governments have sought to exercise their police
powers to regulate, or ban activities relating to medical
marijuana. After numerous court cases and years of uncertainty
relating to the ability of local governments to control medical
marijuana activities, particularly relating to the ability to
control the zoning, operation and existence of medical marijuana
dispensaries, the California Supreme Court (Court), in City of
Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients (2013) 56 Cal. 4th 729, held
that California's medical marijuana statutes do not preempt a
local ban on facilities that distribute medical marijuana. The
Court held that nothing in the CUA or SB 420 expressly or
impliedly limited the inherent authority of a local
jurisdiction, by its own ordinances, to regulate the use of its
land, including the authority to provide that facilities for the
distribution of medical marijuana will not be permitted to
operate within its borders. Accordingly, many California
jurisdictions, roughly estimated by the League of California
Cities at 50% pending completion of a statewide survey, ban the
cultivation and sale of medical marijuana altogether.
Environmental concerns. According to some estimates, there are
30,000 cultivation sites in the tri-county area of
Humboldt-Mendocino-Trinity, and an additional 10,000 or more
cultivation sites elsewhere in California. As a result,
California land, watersheds and some species have been
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significantly damaged by some cultivation operations. "Trespass
grows", which cultivate marijuana without permission on public,
tribal or privately owned land, have been associated with
wildlife poisoning, use and dumping of fertilizers and
pesticides, illegal water diversions and water pollution,
logging and land disturbance and severe problems with garbage
and human waste. These industrial-size marijuana grows, taking
place in the National Forests and on private timberland in some
of the state's most remote and ecologically sensitive areas, are
the subject of a recent study by the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), "Impacts of Surface Water Diversions
for Marijuana Cultivation on Aquatic Habitat in Four
Northwestern California Watershed," which showed that during
drought conditions, water demand for marijuana cultivation
exceeded stream flow in three of four study watersheds and that
diminished stream flow from this water-intensive activity is
likely to have lethal to sub-lethal effects on salmon and
steelhead trout, which are listed under the state and federal
Endangered Species Acts and cause further decline of sensitive
amphibian species.
In response, the Budget Act of 2014 appropriated resources for
both CDFW and the State Water Resources Control Board, to reduce
environmental damage caused by marijuana cultivation on private
and high value state-owned public lands in California. A total
of $3.3 million was allocated to the two agencies to create a
multi-disciplinary Marijuana Task Force and to implement a
priority-driven approach, to address the natural resources
damages from marijuana cultivation on private lands in northern
California and on high conservation value public lands. This
program was authorized as a pilot program for five years.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill has
no fiscal impact.
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SUPPORT: (Verified9/1/15)
California Forestry Association
California League of Conservation Voters
California Trout
County of Humboldt Board of Supervisors
County of Mendocino Board of Supervisors
County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors
County of Trinity Supervisor John Fenley
Emerald Growers Association
Mendocino County Sheriff's Office
Sierra Club California
Small Farmers Association
Sonoma County Water Agency
Trust for Public Land
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/1/15)
CaliforniaNORML
Urban Counties Caucus
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-15, 6/3/15
AYES: Alejo, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman,
Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Lopez,
Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone,
Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood,
Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Brough, Chávez, Beth
Gaines, Gatto, Grove, Harper, Kim, Linder, Mathis, Melendez,
Obernolte, Steinorth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Campos, Chang, Dahle, Mayes
Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
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