Bill Text: CA AB545 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Enrolled

California Assembly Bill 545 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Cannabis: Bureau of Cannabis Control.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)

Status: (Vetoed) 2020-09-24 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB545 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB545-Enrolled.html

Enrolled September 04, 2020

Passed IN Senate September 11, 2019

Passed IN Assembly August 31, 2020

Amended IN Senate August 30, 2019

Amended IN Senate May 28, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 545

Introduced by Assembly Member Low
(Principal coauthor: Senator Glazer)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta, Cooley, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, and Wood)

February 13, 2019

An act to add Section 26019.5 to the Business and Professions Code, and to amend Section 9147.7 of the Government Code, relating to cannabis.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 545, Low. Cannabis: Bureau of Cannabis Control.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA generally divides responsibility for the state licensure and regulation of commercial cannabis activity among the Bureau of Cannabis Control in the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Public Health.

This bill would require the powers and duties of the bureau to be subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and would require the review to be performed as if MAUCRSA were scheduled to be repealed as of January 1, 2023.

Existing law establishes the Joint Sunset Review Committee, a legislative committee comprised of 10 Members of the Legislature, to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies and to conduct a comprehensive analysis of an eligible agency, as defined, for which a date for repeal has been established, to determine if the agency is still necessary and cost effective. Existing law requires each eligible agency scheduled for repeal to submit a report to the committee containing specified information. Existing law requires the committee to take public testimony and evaluate the eligible agency prior to the date the agency is scheduled to be repealed, and requires that an eligible agency be eliminated unless the Legislature enacts a law to extend, consolidate, or reorganize the agency. Existing law specifies that these provisions do not apply to the Bureau of Cannabis Control.

This bill would delete the provision that specifies that these provisions do not apply to the Bureau of Cannabis Control.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 26019.5 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

26019.5.

Notwithstanding any other law, the powers and duties of the bureau shall be subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. The review shall be performed as if this division were scheduled to be repealed as of January 1, 2023.

SEC. 2.

Section 9147.7 of the Government Code is amended to read:

9147.7.

(a) For the purpose of this section, “eligible agency” means any agency, authority, board, bureau, commission, conservancy, council, department, division, or office of state government, however denominated, excluding an agency that is constitutionally created or an agency related to postsecondary education, for which a date for repeal has been established by statute on or after January 1, 2011.

(b) The Joint Sunset Review Committee is hereby created to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies. The purpose of the committee is to conduct a comprehensive analysis over 15 years, and on a periodic basis thereafter, of every eligible agency to determine if the agency is still necessary and cost effective.

(c) Each eligible agency scheduled for repeal shall submit to the committee, on or before December 1 before the year it is set to be repealed, a complete agency report covering the entire period since last reviewed, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) The purpose and necessity of the agency.

(2) A description of the agency budget, priorities, and job descriptions of employees of the agency.

(3) Programs and projects under the direction of the agency.

(4) Measures of the success or failures of the agency and justifications for the metrics used to evaluate successes and failures.

(5) Recommendations of the agency for changes or reorganization in order to better fulfill its purpose.

(d) The committee shall take public testimony and evaluate the eligible agency before the date the agency is scheduled to be repealed. An eligible agency shall be eliminated unless the Legislature enacts a law to extend, consolidate, or reorganize the eligible agency. An eligible agency shall not be extended in perpetuity unless specifically exempted from the provisions of this section. The committee may recommend that the Legislature extend the statutory sunset date for no more than one year to allow the committee more time to evaluate the eligible agency.

(e) The committee shall be comprised of 10 Members of the Legislature. The Senate Committee on Rules shall appoint five Members of the Senate to the committee, not more than three of whom shall be members of the same political party. The Speaker of the Assembly shall appoint five Members of the Assembly to the committee, not more than three of whom shall be members of the same political party. Members shall be appointed within 15 days after the commencement of the regular session. Each member of the committee who is appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules or the Speaker of the Assembly shall serve during that committee member’s term of office or until that committee member no longer is a Member of the Senate or the Assembly, whichever is applicable. A vacancy on the committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. Three Assembly Members and three Senators who are members of the committee shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of committee business. Members of the committee shall receive no compensation for their work with the committee.

(f) The committee shall meet not later than 30 days after the first day of the regular session to choose a chairperson and to establish the schedule for eligible agency review provided for in the statutes governing the eligible agencies. The chairperson of the committee shall alternate every two years between a Member of the Senate and a Member of the Assembly, and the vice chairperson of the committee shall be a Member of the opposite house as the chairperson.

(g) This section shall not be construed to change the existing jurisdiction of the budget or policy committees of the Legislature.