The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1: The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

  1. In November 1996, voters approved Proposition 215, which decriminalized the use of medicinal cannabis in California. Since the proposition was passed, most, if not all the regulation has been left to local governments.
  2. In 2015, California enacted three bills–Assembly Bill 243 (Wood, Chapter 688 of the Statutes of 2015); Assembly Bill 266 (Bonta, Chapter 689 of the Statutes of 2015); and Senate Bill 643 (McGuire, Chapter 719 of the
    Statutes of 2015)–that collectively established a comprehensive state regulatory framework for the licensing and enforcement of cultivation, manufacturing, retail sale, transportation, storage, delivery, and testing of medicinal cannabis in California. This regulatory scheme is known as the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA).
  3. In November 2016, voters approved Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA). Under Proposition 64, adults 21 years of age or older may legally grow, possess, and use cannabis for nonmedicinal purposes, with certain restrictions. In addition, beginning on January 1, 2018, AUMA makes it legal to sell and distribute cannabis through a regulated business.
  4. Although California has chosen to legalize the cultivation, distribution, and use of cannabis, it remains an illegal Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. The intent of Proposition 64 and MCRSA was to ensure a comprehensive regulatory system that takes production and sales of cannabis away from an illegal market and curtails the illegal diversion of cannabis from California into other states or countries.
  5. Cannabis is cultivated in all 50 states however; the majority of domestically produced cannabis comes from California. In 2014, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication Suppression Program eradicated 4.3 million plants in the United States; 2.68 million of which were grown in California. Much of the cannabis grown in the state is grown for exportation purposes. To prevent illegal production and avoid illegal diversion to other states, California must place strict limits on cultivation.
  6. In order to strictly control the cultivation, processing, manufacturing, distribution, testing, and sale of cannabis in a transparent manner that allows the state to fully implement and enforce a robust regulatory system, licensing authorities must know the identity of those individuals who have a significant financial interest in a licensee, or who can direct its operation. Without this knowledge, regulators would not know if an individual who controlled one licensee also had control over another. To ensure accountability and preserve the state’s ability to adequately enforce against all responsible parties the state must have access to key information.
  7. So that state entities can implement the voters’ intent to issue licenses beginning January 1, 2018, while avoiding duplicative costs and inevitable confusion among licensees, regulatory agencies, and the public and ensuring a regulatory structure that prevents access to minors, protects public safety, public health and the environment, as well as maintaining local control, it is necessary to provide for a single regulatory structure for both medicinal and adult-use cannabis and provide for temporary licenses to those applicants that can show compliance with local requirements.
  8. Before denying a license and creating arbitrary barriers to entry into the legal regulated marketplace, it is the intent of the state to compile data that will inform how to best craft licensure policies that will prevent the proliferation of the illegal market while allowing a balanced regulatory scheme that allows legitimate businesses that comply with local standards to succeed. This will also permit licensing entities to issue licenses in a more timely manner.
  9. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has not established appropriate pesticide tolerances for, or permitted the registration and lawful use of, pesticides on cannabis crops intended for human consumption pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136et seq.).
  10. The use of pesticides is not adequately regulated due to the omissions in federal law, and cannabis cultivated in California for California patients can and often does contain pesticide residues.
  11. Lawful California medical cannabis growers and caregivers urge the Department of Pesticide Regulation to provide guidance, in absence of federal guidance, on whether the pesticides currently used at most cannabis cultivation sites are actually safe for use on cannabis intended for human consumption.
Click Here to Read More Sections