Medical Marijuana

AB 34 (Bonta) – Pending
As Amended March 26, 2015

AB 243 (Wood) – Pending
As Amended April 8, 2015

AB 266 (Cooley) – Pending
As Amended April 14, 2015

SB 643 (McGuire) – Pending
As Amended April 6, 2015

CSAC, RCRC and UCC continue to work with the authors and sponsors of the following bills that address medical marijuana dispensing facilities and cultivation operations. In general the amendments we are seeking would ensure strong local control protections in any of the proposed State regulatory schemes.

AB 34, by Assembly Member Rob Bonta, would enact the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Control Act and would create the Division of Medical Cannabis Regulation and Enforcement within the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. This measure is scheduled to be heard before the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on Tuesday, April 28.

AB 243, by Assembly Member Jim Wood, as amended on April 8, would establish a medical marijuana cultivation permit system. The bill would also require all medical marijuana cultivation

to be conducted in accordance with state and local laws and best practices and would require state agencies to address environmental impacts of MMC and coordinate with local governments in enforcement efforts. CSAC was supportive of AB 243 as introduced but has concerns with the recent amendments that would establish the new permit system. We are currently working with the author to have those concerns addressed. AB 243 passed out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, April 15, and now moves to the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, where it will be heard on Tuesday, April 28.

AB 266, by Assembly Member Ken Cooley and co-sponsored by the League of California Cities and the California Police Chiefs Association, would establish within the Department of Consumer Affairs a Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation. It would require the bureau to license and regulate dispensing facilities, cultivation sites, transporters, and manufacturers of medical marijuana and medical marijuana products, subject to local ordinances. This comprehensive regulatory framework addresses a wide range of issues affecting dispensing facilities and cultivation operations. AB 266 is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on Tuesday, April 21.

SB 643, by Senator Mike McGuire, would enact the Medical Marijuana Public Safety and Environmental Protection Act. This bill would also establish a licensing and regulatory framework for the cultivation, manufacture, transportation, storage, distribution and sale of medical marijuana to be administered by a Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation within the Department of Consumer Affairs and enforced primarily at the local level. SB 643 is scheduled to be heard before the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on Monday, April 20.

Solid Waste

AB 1239 (Gordon/Atkins) – Request for Comments
As Introduced February 27, 2015

AB 1239, by Assembly Member Gordon and Assembly Speaker Atkins, would expand the state’s tire recycling infrastructure by creating an incentive program to provide a payment to end-users of recycled tires by increasing the state tire fee to cover the costs of the program. Illegally dumped tires are a serious problem as they pose a safety risk and a significant cost to local governments to manage. This bill would help address that issue by providing a greater incentive to recycle tires rather than dispose of them illegally. This bill will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on April 27 th.

AB 901 (Gordon) – Support
As Introduced February 26, 2015

Assembly Bill 901, by Assembly Member Richard Gordon, would strengthen the requirement of solid waste operators to provide data to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Under existing law, solid waste operators – waste haulers, landfill operators, transfer station managers, composters, etc. – are required to provide information to local governments which can include disposal tonnages that are disposed, the origin of solid wastes, and the types and quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold to end users, or sold to exporters or transporters for sale outside of the state. Existing law also requires counties to submit periodic reports to CalRecycle that are largely based on the data received from the above-mentioned solid waste operators. This information is vital in determining a jurisdiction’s evaluation in meeting recycling targets. Therefore, local agencies need timely, accurate, and reliable information. Unfortunately, this is often not the case, and localities have very little tools to ensure proper information gathering compliance by solid waste operators. This bill would address this issue by mandating solid waste operators to report directly to CalRecycle. And, it allows local governments to access this information. The bill also includes an enforcement component to ensure that Cal Recycle would receive this information.

AB 45 (Mullin) – OPPOSE
As Amended April 13, 2015

AB 45, by Assembly Member Kevin Mullin, would require jurisdictions to create a baseline for household hazardous waste (HHW) diversion and meet an unspecified requirement for HHW diversion. This bill also makes findings outlining what constitutes a comprehensive HHW collection programs and allows Cal Recycle to create a model ordinance for a compressive collection and diversion program. CSAC has a number of concerns with the bill. First, AB 45 would take away the incentive for the Legislature to pass any additional Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation for products that are banned from our landfills. Requiring local governments to collect a certain amount of HHW places the burden of the end-of-life management of toxic products squarely on local governments and tax payers rather than the companies that profit from the products. Creating diversion targets for products that have already been banned from our landfills would result in a costly and time consuming exercise while resources should be dedicated to actual collection and program implementation. Secondly, local governments are better suited to design and implement HHW programs that are appropriate for their community. We feel that it is unnecessary and inappropriate to outline in statute what constitutes a comprehensive program. This bill will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on April 22, 2015.

Community Choice Aggregation Workshop

The Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition (LGSEC) in partnership with LEAN Energy US, Marin Clean Energy, Sonoma Clean Power and CSAC is organizing a day-long Community Choice Energy Forum for local government decision makers, staff members and key stakeholders on May 18th in downtown Los Angeles. Please join experts and local Government leaders from around the state for a day of practical information, lessons learned, and information on how to get started.

The meeting will take place at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA from 8:30 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. For more information, please visit the Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition website.