On July 12, 2021 Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Cannabis Trailer Bill, Assembly Bill – 141, which, among other things, consolidates the three California state regulatory programs—the Bureau of Cannabis Control, Cal Cannabis, and Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch—into one state department, the Department of Cannabis Control (“DCC”). Newsome appointed Nicole Elliott as its first Director.
Nicole Elliott, Department of Cannabis Control Director
The DCC will oversee the licensing and enforcement of all types of commercial cannabis operations along with the state’s track-and-trace system. As part of the consolidation, one of the first major priorities of the DCC is to combine the three sets of cannabis regulations into one. The goal is to provide consistency within the requirements for each license and improve the regulations with further comment from the public. The DCC created a new website that includes information for all applicants and licensees and currently links licensees to the appropriate licensing system. Eventually, the DCC will combine the licensing systems as well.
The bill also extends the timeline for the DCC to issue and renew provisional licenses. Subject to the new eligibility requirements, an operator can renew their provisional license up until January 1, 2025, with all provisional licenses expiring by January 1, 2026. Regardless of whether the business is looking to apply or renew, moving forward, cultivation operators will need to submit additional paperwork to demonstrate the progress on compliance with the environmental standards in order to obtain or keep a provisional license.
Furthermore, starting January 1, 2022, the bill implements a prohibition on issuing a provisional license to an applicant or licensee if doing so would cause the operator to hold multiple cultivation licenses that would exceed an acre of outdoor or 22,000 square feet of mixed light or indoor on contiguous premises. Starting January 1, 2023, the DCC will not be authorized to renew a provisional license on the same basis. On its face, the bill prohibits the licensure of larger growing operations without first reaching full environmental compliance, which can take years depending on the area and size of the project.
Senate Bill 160 is a bill that quickly moved through the legislative process last week and was approved by Newsome on July 16, 2021. SB-160 amends AB-141 in various ways. Most importantly, the bill authorizes the DCC to the issue new provisional licenses until September 30, 2022, for general applicants and June 30, 2023, for equity applicants. A cultivation operator looking to obtain a new provisional license must submit an application to the DCC no later than June 30, 2022, or, if an equity applicant, no later than March 31, 2023, which is not much time for cultivators given the onerous environmental review that they each face.
