Bill Text: CA SB833 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Cannabis licensing: cultivation licenses: changing license type: inactive status.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-10-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 886, Statutes of 2023. [SB833 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB833-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 833
CHAPTER 886
An act to add Section 26061.5 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to cannabis.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 13, 2023.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 13, 2023.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 833, McGuire.
Cannabis licensing: cultivation licenses: changing license type: inactive status.
(1) Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. 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.
Under existing law, the Department of Cannabis Control may issue cannabis cultivation licenses to commercial cannabis businesses that differ depending on the size of the cultivation site and whether the site is indoor, outdoor, or mixed-light. Existing law requires the
department to charge each licensee a licensure and renewal fee, as applicable.
This bill would require the department, beginning no later than March 1, 2024, to
allow a cultivation licensee to change the type of size of a cultivation license or to place a cultivation license in inactive status. The bill would authorize a licensee, at the license renewal, to change an existing cultivation license to a type with a smaller maximum canopy size, and at each subsequent license renewal, to restore the original type, maintain the type that the license was changed to at the license renewal, or change to a different type with a maximum canopy size smaller than the original type. The bill would prohibit a licensee who holds a license in inactive status from engaging in the cultivation of cannabis, except as specified, would require a license in inactive status to remain in inactive status until the license is next renewed, and would require a licensee who holds a license in inactive status to pay a reduced license fee. The bill would require the department, in implementing these provisions, to allow each licensee a one-time opportunity to change the date of license
renewal.
(2) AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a 2/3 vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes and intent.
This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA.
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.
Section 26061.5 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:26061.5.
(a) Beginning no later than March 1, 2024, the department shall allow a cultivation licensee to do both of the following:(1) Change the type of size of a cultivation license as set forth in subdivision (b).
(2) Place a cultivation license in inactive status as set forth in subdivision (c).
(b) The department shall allow a licensee to change the type of size of a cultivation license, as follows:
(1) At the time of license renewal, a licensee may change an existing cultivation license to a cultivation license type with a smaller maximum canopy
size.
(2) At the time of each subsequent license renewal, a licensee may do any of the following:
(A) Restore the licensee’s original cultivation license type.
(B) Maintain the cultivation license type selected by the licensee pursuant to paragraph (1).
(C) Change to a different cultivation license type with a maximum canopy size smaller than the licensee’s original cultivation license type, which may be larger or smaller than the cultivation license type selected by the licensee pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) If a licensee holds a provisional license, the licensee may do either of the following, at the election of the licensee:
(A) Continue to pursue the requirements for annual licensure in connection with the licensee’s original cultivation license type.
(B) Pursue the requirements for annual licensure in connection with a smaller cultivation license type selected pursuant to this subdivision.
(4) Nothing in this subdivision requires the department to allow changes to nursery licenses or to the classification of a cultivation license as indoor, outdoor, or mixed-light.
(c) The department shall allow a licensee to place a cultivation license in inactive status at the time of license renewal, as follows:
(1) A licensee who holds a license in inactive status shall not engage in the cultivation of cannabis, except that the department may allow a licensee with a
license in inactive status to do both of the following:
(A) Engage in the drying, curing, grading, trimming, packaging, and sale of cannabis harvested before the date the license was placed in inactive status.
(B) Possess and maintain seeds and immature plants used solely for propagation to preserve the genetic lineage of the licensee’s cannabis plants.
(2) A license in inactive status shall remain in inactive status until the license is next renewed. At that next renewal, and at each renewal thereafter, the license may be placed in either active or inactive status, at the election of the licensee.
(3) A licensee who holds a license in inactive status shall pay a reduced license fee in an amount determined by the department in accordance with Section
26180.
(4) A license in inactive status shall remain a license issued pursuant to this division. All of the following apply to a licensee who holds a license in inactive status:
(A) The licensee shall continue to comply with all laws and regulations applicable to cultivation licensees.
(B) If the licensee holds a provisional license, the licensee shall continue to pursue requirements for annual licensure.
(C) The licensee shall be allowed to maintain eligibility for state programs available to cultivation licensees, including, but not limited to, grant programs.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section 26050, the department shall allow each licensee a one-time opportunity to change
the date of license renewal, in implementing subdivisions (b) and (c).
(e) Notwithstanding any other law, the department may adopt emergency regulations to implement this section. The provisions of Section 26013 shall be applicable to emergency regulations adopted or readopted pursuant to this section. The adoption of emergency regulations authorized by this section shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare.
