California lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate have moved legislation addressing cannabis and hemp issues through votes by the assigned policy committees in their respective chambers. Most critical to the financial health of the entire California regulated market, this week, AB 564 (Haney), which would retain the existing cannabis excise tax rate of 15% of the gross receipts of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer, passed out of the Assembly Revenue & Tax Committee unanimously. Also this week, AB 632 (Hart), which would streamline the process for a local agency to obtain a court judgment for payment of fines and penalties for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, and establish a procedure to collect administrative fines or penalties by lien upon the parcel of land on which the unlicensed commercial cannabis activity occurred, passed unanimously out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. In the Senate, SB 378 (Wiener), which would make online cannabis and hemp marketplaces strictly liable for damages, require online sellers to create a reporting system enabling people to flag an unlicensed product or seller, and require marketplaces that don’t verify California cannabis seller licenses to post a disclaimer, has been set for a hearing before the Appropriations Committee. In the Assembly, the Revenue & Tax Committee has referred AB 8 (Aguiar-Curry), to authorize Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) licensees to manufacture, distribute, or sell products that contain industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp, and to require out-of-state hemp manufacturers who produce an industrial hemp product that is a food or beverage for sale in this state to register with the DCC, on to the Appropriations Committee. Addressing vape pens, the Assembly Appropriations Committee has been referred AB 998 (Hadwick), which would make vape pens subject to household hazardous waste collection programs, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has been referred SB 501 (Allen), which would create a producer responsibility program to require a producer responsibility organization (PRO) to ensure the safe and convenient collection and management of vape pens, and to require the PRO to submit a producer responsibility plan to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and to implement its plan within 90 days of approval. Assembly-introduced legislation to reinstate the task force on state and local regulation of commercial cannabis activity, which was repealed on January 1, 2025, and to expand the task force to include representatives from tribal governmental entities regulating commercial cannabis activity, AB 1496 (Rubio), has passed out of the Assembly and is now before the Senate Rules Committee. Last week, the Assembly Business and Professions Committee unanimously passed AB 1332 (Ahrens), which would authorize a licensed microbusiness with an M-license whose licensed activities include retail sale, distribution, and outdoor cultivation to directly ship medicinal cannabis to a medicinal cannabis patient in the state, and which would authorize free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products provided to medicinal cannabis patients in compliance with MAUCRSA to be shipped to those patients by a licensed microbusiness with an M-license, on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1027 (Sharp-Collins), to allow the DCC stronger regulatory oversight on the testing of cannabis products, and AB 686 (Berman), to add DCC deputy directors and chief counsel to the list of individuals prohibited from receiving any commission or profit whatsoever from any person applying for or receiving any license or permit, have both also been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Over the next two weeks, we will find out which bills will proceed to a vote on the floor of their chamber of origin before the bi-cameral May 23 legislative deadline for bills to make it out of the initial committee process.
