AB 2925: California Cannabis Tax Fund: spending reports.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. 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.

AUMA, as additionally amended by statute, establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated fund consisting of specified taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts related to commercial cannabis activity. Each fiscal year AUMA requires the Controller to make disbursements from the fund pursuant to a specified schedule, including, but not limited to, amounts to the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account.

AUMA requires the Controller to disburse funds from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account to the State Department of Health Care Services for programs for youth that are designed to educate about and to prevent substance use disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. AUMA requires the State Department of Health Care Services to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Education to implement and administer these programs, and authorizes the departments to contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services.

This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, on or before July 10, 2023, to provide to the Legislature a spending report of funds from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account for the 202122 and 202223 fiscal years. The bill would require the department, on or before July 10, 2024, and annually thereafter, to provide that spending report for the prior fiscal year.