Bill Text: CA SB581 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Cannabis: licensing: public records.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-09-12 - Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Calderon. [SB581 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB581-Amended.html
Bill Title: Cannabis: licensing: public records.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-09-12 - Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Calderon. [SB581 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB581-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 28, 2019 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
| Senate Bill | No. 581 |
| Introduced by Senator Caballero |
February 22, 2019 |
An act to add Section 26055.2 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to cannabis.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 581, as amended, Caballero.
Cannabis: licensing: public records.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (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. MAUCRSA establishes the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel and authorizes any person
aggrieved by specified decisions of a licensing authority related to disciplining any license to appeal the licensing authority’s written decision to the panel.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection unless an exemption from disclosure applies. Existing law exempts specific records from disclosure, including statements of personal worth or personal financial data required by a licensing agency and filed by an applicant with the licensing agency to establish the applicant’s personal qualification for the license, certificate, or permit applied for.
This bill would require the licensing authorities to post on their internet websites or through the California Cannabis Portal, as specified, certain information regarding an applicant or a licensee, including specified disciplinary actions taken by a licensing authority or a
regulator of another state or jurisdiction. The bill would authorize the licensing authorities to disclose this information by linking to original documents. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed as requiring the disclosure of any information that could not be obtained through a request for public records submitted pursuant to the California Public Records Act. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, an initiative measure, authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 2/3 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature.
This bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and intent of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana
Act.
Digest Key
Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) Because cannabis is ingested by consumers and manufactured and grown by natural persons, the effective regulation of cannabis urgently implicates public health.
(b) Section 6250 of the Government Code provides that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state and courts have held that the public has a right to monitor information revealing the operations of state government.
(c) Members of the public should not be required to file expensive and repetitive California Public Records Act requests simply to obtain information about cannabis applicants and licensees.
(d) Comparable licensing agencies such as those within the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control have long disclosed basic applicant and licensee information through the internet.
(e) Consumers should easily be able to check on the licensing and disciplinary records of those who are selling them cannabis to ingest and workers should be able easily to check on the licensing and disciplinary records of those who will employe
employ them to work with and around cannabis. The agencies that regulate cannabis should disclose on the internet information that is public record about applicants and licensees.
SEC. 2.
Section 26055.2 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:26055.2.
(a) A licensing authority shall post on its internet website or on the California Cannabis Portal the following information submitted as part of an application pursuant to Section 26051.5 regarding an applicant if the information is in the possession, custody, and control of the licensing authority:(1) The name, business address, corporate affiliations, and license type of the applicant and owners.
each owner as defined in Section 26001 and any regulations promulgated thereunder.
(2) The date the application was submitted.
(3) The status of the application.
(4) If the application is denied, the notification of the denial sent to the applicant and the reasons for the denial, including citations to statutes and regulations relied upon as the bases for the denial.
(5) Any criminal conviction of any owner. owner of an offense that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions,
or duties of the business or profession for which the application is made as determined pursuant to Section 26057 and any regulations promulgated thereunder.
(6) A civil penalty or judgment rendered against the applicant or any owner.
(b) A licensing authority shall post on its internet website or on the California Cannabis Portal the following information regarding a licensee if the information is in the possession, custody, and control of the licensing authority:
(1) The information described in subdivision (a).
(2) Whether or not the licensee is presently in good standing.
license is valid and whether the licensing authority has placed restrictions on the license.
(3) Any of the following enforcement actions or proceedings to which the licensee is the subject:
(A) Temporary restraining order.
(B) Interim suspension order.
(C) Current accusations filed by the Attorney General, including accusations that are on appeal. For purposes of this paragraph, “current accusation” means an accusation that has not been dismissed, withdrawn, or settled, and has not been finally decided upon by an administrative
law judge or the licensing authority, unless an appeal of that decision is pending.
(D) Citations or fines issued.
(E) Any final revocations and suspensions, or other equivalent actions, taken against the licensee by a licensing authority or a regulator of another state or jurisdiction or the surrender of a license by the licensee in relation to a disciplinary action or investigation, including the operative accusation resulting in the license surrender or discipline.
(F) Probation or other equivalent actions, taken against the licensee by a licensing authority or a regulator of another state or jurisdiction, completed or terminated, including the operative accusation resulting in the discipline.
(c) The information required to be posted pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be prominently linked from either the home page of the licensing authority or the California Cannabis Portal.
(d) The licensing authority may disclose the information required to be posted pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) by linking to original documents.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring the disclosure of any information that could not be obtained through a request for public records submitted pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
(f) For purposes of this section, “licensing authority” means the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the State Department of Public Health, and the Department of Food and Agriculture.
