AB 1565: California Cannabis Tax Fund: local equity program grants.

Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure, 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. MAUCRSA establishes the Department of Cannabis Control within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to administer the act.

Under existing law, the California Cannabis Equity Act, a local equity program is a program adopted or operated by a local jurisdiction that focuses on inclusion and support of individuals and communities in Californias cannabis industry who are linked to populations or neighborhoods that were negatively or disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization, as specified. The act authorizes the department to provide technical assistance to a local equity program that helps local equity applicants or local equity licensees, as defined. Under that act, the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development is required to administer a grant program to assist a local jurisdiction with the development of a local equity program or to assist local equity applicants and local equity licensees through a local equity program, as specified.

Existing law establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated special 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. Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend, on and after July 1, 2028, the provisions relating to the disbursement and allocation of moneys in the fund by majority vote to further the purposes of AUMA, as specified.

This bill would require, effective July 1, 2028, the Controller to disburse up to $15,000,000, as specified, to the department for the 202829 fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter. The bill would require the department to use the disbursements to support local equity programs in eligible local jurisdictions to assist local equity applicants and licensees gaining entry into, and to successfully operate in, the states regulated cannabis marketplace, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA.