Weed Feed: Gov. Brown Pens Through Wave of Cannabis Legislation Before September Deadline

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WEED FEED / John Ross Ferrara / Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 @ 10:21 a.m.

Weed Feed: Gov. Brown Pens Through Wave of Cannabis Legislation Before September Deadline

California State Capitol Building. Photo by Jeff Turner.

Governor Jerry Brown sifted through nearly a dozen pieces of cannabis legislation requiring his approval last week.

Yesterday was the last day for Gov. Brown to sign or veto any bills passed by the state legislature before Sept. 1, and as a result there are a heap of new state cannabis laws in the books.

The most notable bill signed into law by Gov. Brown last week is AB-1793, which allows past pot offenses that would no longer be considered a crime under the Adult Use of Marijuana Act to be wiped from people’s criminal records.

Another notable bill that Gov. Brown vetoed this past week is SB-1127, which would have allowed schools to develop procedures in which some students could take non-smokable or vapeable forms of medical marijuana on school grounds.

“This bill is overly broad, as it applies to all students instead of limited cases where a doctor recommends medical marijuana for a student in order to prevent of reduce the effects of a seizure,” Brown wrote in his veto message. “Generally, I remain concerned about the exposure of marijuana on youth and am dubious of its use for youth for all ailments. This bill goes too far — further than some research has — to allow the use of medical marijuana for youth. I think we should pause before going much further down this path.”

Below are summaries of some other notable cannabis laws that Brown either signed or vetoed last week (summaries directly quoted from corresponding bills). Click the links to read about the bills in more detail.

SIGNED

AB-2899

This bill would prohibit a licensee from publishing or disseminating advertisements or marketing of cannabis and cannabis products while the licensee’s license is suspended.

AB-2215

This bill would authorize the board to revoke or suspend a veterinarian license, or to assess a fine, for accepting, soliciting, or offering any form of remuneration from or to a Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) licensee if the veterinarian or his or her immediate family has a financial interest, as defined, with the MAUCRSA licensee.
The bill would authorize the board to revoke or suspend a veterinarian license, or to assess a fine, for discussing medicinal cannabis with a client while the veterinarian is employed by, or has an agreement with, a MAUCRSA licensee.
The bill would authorize the board to revoke or suspend a license, or to assess a fine, for distributing any form of advertising for cannabis in California.
The bill would prohibit a licensed veterinarian from dispensing or administering cannabis or cannabis products to an animal patient. Because a violation of the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act’s provisions is a crime, the bill would expand the scope of that crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program.
The bill would also prohibit the Veterinary Medical Board from disciplining, or denying, revoking, or suspending the license of, a licensed veterinarian solely for discussing the use of cannabis on an animal for medicinal purposes, absent negligence or incompetence.
The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines for these discussions on or before January 1, 2020, and would require the board to post the guidelines on its Internet Web site.

AB 2914

This bill would prohibit a licensee from selling, offering, or providing a cannabis product that is an alcoholic beverage, including, but not limited to, an infusion of cannabis or cannabinoids derived from industrial hemp into an alcoholic beverage.

VETOED

SB-829

Existing administrative law prohibits a retailer licensee from providing free cannabis goods to any person or allowing individuals who are not employed by the retailer to provide free cannabis goods to any person on the licensed premises. Existing administrative law provides an exception to this prohibition for specified medicinal retailer and microbusiness licensees to provide access to medicinal cannabis patients who have difficulty accessing medicinal cannabis goods, as specified.
This bill would similarly authorize those specified licensees to provide free cannabis or cannabis products to a medical cannabis patient if specified requirements are met, including that the cannabis or cannabis products otherwise meet specified requirements of MAUCRSA. The bill would authorize those specified licensees to contract with an individual or organization to coordinate the provision of free medicinal cannabis and medicinal cannabis products on the retailer’s premises.

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The Weed Feed is a weekly column written by John Ross Ferrara.

The Weed Feed is a one-stop shop for the best local and national cannabis news.

Each week, original content will be posted to the page, as well as various other stories from around the country.

These aggregated stories are organized into six separate sections. The News (basic news), The Biz (financial news), The Life (features), The Game (sports), The Fame (celebrity), and the Grub (food).