California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) will hold a virtual public hearing on Tuesday, April 29, beginning at 10 a.m. (PT) regarding adoption of proposed regulations addressing cultivation updates and minimum sanitation standards. Having identified several aspects of the current cultivation regulations that are unclear, unreasonably burdensome, facilitate diversion to the illicit market, or are out of alignment with comparable industries, and having determined that some existing regulatory requirements are unclear or even unnecessary because they overlap with existing regulatory authority of other state agencies, the DCC proposed last month a package of changes to the Department’s cultivation regulations, and included in this package are minimum sanitation standards, because, according to the DCC, non-manufactured cannabis products are not subject to any minimum standard of sanitary practice, leaving these products vulnerable to contamination. According to its notice, the DCC’s proposed rulemaking action revises existing regulations to remove duplicative provisions, to streamline operational and administrative burdens for licensees and the Department, and to establish minimum sanitation standards, and specifically includes these changes:
- Establishing minimum sanitation standards for licensees that handle exposed cannabis.
- Clarifying tracking and labeling of harvest batches.
- Extending the time limit for temporary events to 30 days.
- Allowing cultivation licensees to transfer immature plants and seeds to a nursery.
- Allowing cultivation licensees to transfer immature plants and seeds to another cultivation premises owned by that licensee.
- Deleting the requirement to submit a pest management plan at the time of application.
- Deleting the requirement to submit electricity reporting with a renewal application and to purchase carbon offsets.
According to its Initial Statement of Reasons, the Department anticipates benefits to consumers and the regulated industry because the DCC anticipates these changes will increase consistency in enforcement, reduce opportunities for diversion, and create better alignment with comparable non-cannabis industries. Consistent enforcement reduces uncertainty and creates parity among licensees located in different parts of the state. Eliminating diversion opportunities reduces business prospects for unlicensed operators, and any reduction in business prospects for the unlicensed market also provides public health, safety, and environmental benefits as unlicensed operators do not follow health and safety requirements designed to protect consumers and the environment. The DCC further anticipates that establishing minimum sanitation standards for non-manufactured products will reduce the potential for consumer products to become contaminated, and will reduce the likelihood of cannabis goods failing laboratory testing due to contamination, which the DCC anticipates will lead to a reduction in expensive remediation and retesting of failed goods.
As part of the regular rulemaking process, if you would like to provide the Department with a comment on the proposed regulations, then you must email your comment to publiccomment@cannabis.ca.gov by the end of the day on Monday (April 28). The DCC’s public hearing will take place on Tuesday (April 29), from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (PT), and you can participate in the hearing by computer or by phone.
