SB 987: Medical marijuana: Marijuana User Fee Act.

Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes. exempts from specified criminal penalties the possession or cultivation of medical marijuana by patients and primary caregivers. The Medical Marijuana Program requires the State Department of Public Health to establish and maintain a voluntary program for the issuance of identification cards to qualified patients who satisfy specified requirements with respect to the use of medical marijuana. The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, operative beginning on January 1, 2016, provides for the licensure and regulation of commercial medical marijuana activity, as specified. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. fees.

This bill would enact the Marijuana User Fee Act. The bill, on and after January 1, 2018, unless a specified initiative is passed by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, would impose a fee on the consumption or other use in this state of medical marijuana purchased from any retailer for the consumption or other use in this state at the rate of 15% 10% of the sales price of the medical marijuana. This bill would provide that a purchaser is liable for that fee unless the purchaser has an identification card indicating that the purchaser has low income, as described above, and would require every retailer engaged in business in this state and making sales of medical marijuana to a purchaser for the consumption or other use in this state to separately state and collect the fee from a purchaser, unless the purchaser presents that identification card, as specified. This bill would also make specific violations of this bill a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program.

This bill would require the State Board of Equalization to administer and collect the fee in accordance with the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a retailer to register for a permit with the board, to prepare and file with the board returns, and to remit the fee quarterly. The bill would require that all revenues, less refunds, be remitted to the State Board of Equalization board and deposited in the Marijuana User Fee Fund, which the bill would establish.

This bill would require moneys in the Marijuana User Fee Fund to be allocated by the Controller in specified percentages to the General Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation for the administration of a grant program to distribute grants to local agencies, as defined, that oversee or are affected by the regulation of cultivating, processing, manufacturing, distributing, and selling of medical marijuana, or that undertake enforcement activities pertaining to the cultivation of marijuana; the Department of Parks and Recreation for the stewardship, operation, maintenance, and preservation of state park units; and to counties, as defined, for drug and alcohol treatment programs. The bill, commencing in 2018, and at least every other year thereafter, would require the Legislative Analyst to review and evaluate the fee, and provide a report on the fee to specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would also require funds to be advanced to the Marijuana User Fee Fund as a General Fund or special fund loan, would authorize the Director of Finance to provide an initial operating loan from the General Fund, and would appropriate to the board funds so advanced or loaned to the board for the implementation and administration of the act.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.