CSAC has updated its database of County Cannabis Ordinances from
across the state and posted copies of local ordinances on our
website. The website also includes a chart with brief
descriptions of banned and legal cannabis activities in each
county per the ordinances submitted in a recent survey of local
governments. The list is subject to change because many counties
have temporary regulations in place while completing the process
of creating more permanent regulations.
The California Bureau of Cannabis Control began accepting license
applications on Friday, December 8 and will begin verifying
local permits and ordinances with each local jurisdiction’s
designated point of contact. This point of contact was collected
through a recent survey. Once the Bureau receives an application
from an applicant in your county, they will be sending a letter
to verify the local permit submitted to them.
Cal Recycle is wrapping up their informal rulemaking process to
implement SB 1383 (Lara, 2016), and will begin with the formal
process next year. SB 1383 aims at reducing short-lived
climate pollutants, including methane by implementing stringent
organic waste diversion targets for landfills.
CSAC’s Cannabis Working Group will host a call on Friday,
December 22 at 10 AM to discuss the recently released
emergency regulations from the Bureau of Cannabis Control,
California Department of Food and Agriculture, and California
Department of Public Health.
CSAC is a co-signatory of comment letters to each of the lead
licensing agencies in conjunction with the Rural County
Representatives and Urban Counties of California. The state is
expected to begin issuing licenses in January 2018 through these
newly released emergency regulations.
In addition to facilitating meetings regarding this year’s
devastating wildfires, CSAC also continues to monitor any
potential policy changes that may arise from the fires. On
Monday, December 4 Senator Hannah Beth Jackson and
Assemblymember Miguel Santiago hosted a joint information hearing
to review California’s emergency alert and response procedures.
On Friday of the Annual Meeting in Sacramento County, CSAC
facilitated a request from the Governor’s Office of Emergency
Services to convene a public meeting of county supervisors and
staff from the counties affected by the recent fires. CSAC staff
attended the meeting and have been working diligently in support
of the communities and supervisors in Mendocino, Yuba, Lake,
Solano, Sonoma, Nevada, Butte, Orange and Napa counties since the
devastating October Fires started on October 8th, 2017.
CSAC is working closely with CalRecycle as it develops new
regulations related to greenhouse gasses produced in landfills.
Last year the legislature adopted SB 1383 which implements a
strategic plan to decrease short-lived climate pollutants
including soot, hydrofluorocarbons, and methane from California’s
air. A major element of the law is decreasing the amount of
methane produced in California’s landfills.
The Committee agenda for the Agriculture, Environment and Natural
Resources (AENR) Policy Committee has been released for the
Annual Conference. The meeting will take place on Tuesday,
November 28 from 9:00 am to 10:30 am in the Sacramento
Convention Center Room 313. Topics on the agenda will include a
review of AENR related legislation from 2017, a discussion of the
2017 fire season with Cal Fire Chief Pimlot, an update on AB 617,
California’s newest emissions law, and the adoption of the 2018
AENR priorities.
Please save Tuesday, November 28 from 9:00-10:30 a.m. for a
meeting of the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources
(AENR) Policy Committee, which will take place during the CSAC
Annual Meeting in Sacramento.
The Social, Community and Public Health Impacts of
Cannabis
Not all counties have legalized cannabis within their borders.
However, the impact of state legalization will undoubtedly impact
local governments across California. The Cannabis Working Group
will host a workshop to examine impacts of cannabis legalization
on county governments. Topics to be discussed include public
health and public safety impacts, and the long-term implications
of cannabis legalization.
Governor Brown concluded legislative business by the October 15
deadline, ultimately signing 859 bills into law. CSAC is
publishing a series of updates on new laws from each policy area.
This week, the report from the Agriculture, Environment and
Natural Resources policy unit provides information on the
following legislation that has been enacted by the Legislature
and signed by the Governor.
Other policy area reports on new laws can be found at these
links:
A legislative hearing in Ventura County focused on the process of
diverting organic materials from landfills, in part to reduce
methane greenhouse gas emissions. Recent legislation has
significantly increased California’s organic waste diversion
targets, but private, public and non-profit advocates have
expressed concerns about hitting those targets due to
California’s lack of facilities and infrastructure to properly
process the diverted organic waste.
CSAC Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources staff,
working in partnership with the Bureau of Cannabis Control,
helped develop and send out a cannabis ordinance survey tool for
local governments to help ensure local control. A link to the
survey was sent to CSAC’s Board of Directors and County
Administrative Officers.
The Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) held an event that
provided licensing information from the various state and local
agencies in the Sacramento Convention Center recently. The event
drew a demographically diverse crowd in the hundreds and
contained several rows of tables staffed by local and state
agency employees who provided handouts related to cannabis
regulation.
A reminder that Cannabis Working Group will hold a call on
Monday, October 30 at 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.Since the working
group last met, there has been significant legislative and
regulatory activity around California cannabis Law. This activity
includes the passage of SB 94 in June that merged provisions of
the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act together with the
Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Prop. 64).
The Mattress Recycling Council’s (MRC) Illegal Dump Compensation
Program aims to help collect data about illegal mattress dumping
across California and pays eligible entities up to $10 per
mattress collected. The program requires registration of your
entity with the MRC and month-by-month data input of information
about mattresses removed from public rights-of-way in your
jurisdiction; including how they were disposed of.
Senator Bob Hertzberg hosted an SB 231 focused webinar earlier
this week called “Getting It Right: Stormwater Stewardship.” The
Senator told viewers that his main goal in authoring SB 231 was
to help communities capture and use water locally, in part, to
help reduce water costs. Along with Senator Hertzberg the webinar
featured Sean Bothwell, Policy Director at California
Coastkeeper Alliance and Attorney Michael Colantuono.
The State Water Resources Control Board adopted the
Cannabis Cultivation Policy this week, which includes
new standards to protect water flows and water quality in
California. The Policy establishes statewide requirements that
will be implemented through a water quality permit known as the
Cannabis General Order and through conditions for
cannabis-related water rights referred to as Cannabis Small
Irrigation Use Registrations.
