Legislators gathered earlier this week to grill the network of state agencies responsible for implementing the state’s cannabis policy. In a joint hearing of the Senate Committees on Business, Professions and Economic Development, Agriculture and Health, state officials provided an update on the status of regulations, interagency coordination, and stakeholder outreach and took questions about progress on preparing for the 2018 target.

At the hearing, senators expressed concerns with the pace of implementation, as well as various aspects of the policy itself. The landscape of cannabis policy in the state has changed dramatically: the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act was signed by the Governor in fall 2015, and voters passed Proposition 64 just over a year later. State agencies are now racing against the clock to draft and adopt regulations, work through discrepancies between medical and recreational usage, address environmental concerns, create standards to ensure consumer safety, plan for banking and taxation issues, and set up a technology infrastructure for both license processing and a track-and-trace system. The network of cannabis regulation is supposed to be functional by January 1, 2018 – a very ambitious timeline, considering the lengthy rulemaking and environmental impact process and other challenges associated with the budding policy environment.

Representatives from the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, Department of Public Health, Department of Food and Agriculture, and Information Technology all provided comments and acknowledged the many hurdles involved with the work at hand, but reassured senators that the programs would be functional by the 2018 deadline. Presenters also acknowledged that the initial phase of licensing and active implementation is just the beginning, and the policy environment will result in a process over a matter of years in order to find the right balance for regulations, public input, and the like.

CSAC, RCRC, and the League of California Cities provided comments regarding the local government perspective, and representatives from the cannabis industry, law enforcement, labor, and environmental groups also provided commentary. Counties and other local entities have a great deal of local control with the implementation of recreational cannabis usage. CSAC is convening a Cannabis Working Group to discuss these issues and to vet current legislative and regulatory efforts. Please contact Cara Martinson (cmartinson@counties.org) or Betsy Hammer (bhammer@counties.org)  to participate in this group.