As California\u2019s legislative session neared its end on Aug. 31, a flurry of bills to reform the state\u2019s legal cannabis program came to the floor. Among those that passed, and now await Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s signature, is one that could make a big difference to medical marijuana patients and providers.<\/p>\n
The bill,\u00a0SB-829<\/a>,\u00a0introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, would exempt \u201ccompassionate care\u201d programs from paying the state cannabis taxes imposed by Proposition 64 when providing free medical marijuana to financially disadvantaged people suffering from serious health conditions.<\/p>\n The text of x, California\u2019s 2016 legalization initiative, called for a \u201cfeasibility study\u201d for non-profit cannabis providers, but this has been put off until 2020. This has left compassionate care programs\u00a0in the legal lurch<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 subject to the same taxes as for-profit cannabis businesses, an often incapacitating financial burden.<\/p>\n As\u00a0Bay Area Reporter<\/a>\u00a0notes, this is fueling a black market \u2014 the very thing Prop. 64 was intended to do away with. The San Francisco-based newspaper notes the re-emergence of the \u201csesh\u201d scene, with underground dealers meeting up at private parties to sell discounted cannabis. Fortunately, the BAR quotes Debby Goldsberry, chief executive officer of\u00a0Magnolia Oakland<\/a>\u00a0dispensary, expressing confidence that Brown will sign SB-829.<\/p>\n Another measure related to taxation of cannabis that passed the Legislature is\u00a0AB 1863<\/a>. As\u00a0Cannabis Business Times<\/a>\u00a0explains in its round-up of the session\u2019s bills, AB 1863 would allow tax deductions for commercial cannabis activity.\u00a0It would change a provision of California law mandating that the state tax code \u201cconform\u201d to federal tax law. Specifically, it would remove the stipulation that the state code must mirror the\u00a0Internal Revenue Service<\/a>\u2018s notorious Code 280E,\u00a0which bars deductions for any commerce involving Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 controlled substances. Cannabis and cannabinoids, of course,\u00a0have Schedule 1 classification<\/a>\u00a0under the federal Controlled Substances Act \u2014 that for drugs with no medical value.<\/p>\n Also passed and awaiting Brown\u2019s signature is\u00a0SB 1127<\/a>, which would allow parents to administer medical marijuana products to their ailing children on school grounds. This bill has been\u00a0dubbed \u201cJojo\u2019s Act<\/a>,\u201d after a wheelchair-bound South San Francisco high school student who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy and depends on regular doses of cannabis oil to prevent debilitating seizures.<\/p>\n Another bill related to the social justice questions around cannabis, which addresses the racist legacy of prohibition, is\u00a0SB 1294<\/a>. This bill will require the state to assist local jurisdictions with their \u201cequity\u201d programs, which have been instituted by several California municipalities \u2014\u00a0most notably Oakland<\/a>. The bill also requires that the state put together a \u201cmodel equity ordinance\u201d by July 2019 and direct funds and technical assistance for the cannabis industry to those communities that are disproportionately impacted by prohibition-era cannabis convictions.<\/p>\n The bill perhaps most relevant to recreational cannabis consumers sitting on Brown\u2019s desk is AB 2020. For the past nine months of legal cannabis in California, cannabis events have been required to take place on county fairgrounds in counties that grant approval,\u00a0which has been incredibly limiting<\/a>.\u00a0AB 2020<\/a>\u00a0would make it possible to hold a cannabis event at any venue, so long as local governments have granted authority.<\/p>\n Finally, there\u2019s\u00a0AB 1793<\/a>, which would expunge all cannabis-related convictions from 1975 to 2016, potentially impacting nearly 220,000 cases.<\/p>\n Failing to even make it out of committee was\u00a0SB 930<\/a>, which would have enacted a \u201cCannabis Limited Charter Banking and Credit Union Law,\u201d setting up a state banking system for the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n Also dying in committee was\u00a0AB 2641<\/a>, which would have permitted small cultivators to apply for \u201con-site sales and consumption\u201d licenses for temporary events, such as fairs or farmers\u2019 markets. The\u00a0California Growers Association<\/a>\u00a0had been watching this bill closely, as it would have opened up alternative points of sale for rural areas where dispensaries are few and far between. As\u00a0Cannabis Business Times<\/a>\u00a0recalls, direct cannabis sales at such events are not allowed under the Prop 64 regulatory regime unless the cultivator also has a retail license.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what do you think needs to change in California\u2019s cannabis laws?<\/p>\n The post California Might Resurrect Compassionate Care, & Other Bills Waiting To Be Signed Into Law<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As California\u2019s legislative session neared its end on Aug. 31, a flurry of bills to reform the state\u2019s legal cannabis program came to the floor. Among those that passed, and now await Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s signature, is one that could make a big difference to medical marijuana patients and providers.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5806,5807,5808,5809,148,1972,50,3789,5042,1046,139,4673,81,1754,5618,5810,5811,5812],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29247,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29246\/revisions\/29247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Still Pending: Tax Deductions, Medical Cannabis at Schools, Event Locations, Equity and Expungement<\/h4>\n
Those Bills That Didn\u2019t Make the Cut<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: California Might Resurrect Compassionate Care, & Other Bills Waiting To Be Signed Into Law<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"