Sixth months have almost passed under the transition regime and the July 1st deadline for the Emergency Regulations approaches soon. Many dispensaries are in a state of crisis because there has not been enough time for businesses to come into compliance given the very few licensed testing facilities - only 19 active of the 30 licenses granted as of May. Compare that number with the over 3,800 cultivation licenses and the 800 manufacturing licenses. The United Cannabis Business Association has done the math, and the math does not add up: a testing facility can handle 100-120 samples per day, which works out to only about 4 cultivation batches per day on average.
With problematic and confusing rule changes on packaging requirements, including labels and child-resistant rules, the supply of compliant packaging is too low. And, as a result of these issues as well as various other regulatory delays and obstacles, there's an enormous backstock of product that is out of compliance with Section 5029(b)(5).
Today the Los Angeles City Council held a special meeting, where a passionate and energized public audience made it clear that they want to see the tax revenue collected from the commercial cannabis industry to be reinvested into social equity programs. The specific tax revenues being discussed were the proposed “Cannabis Reinvestment Act,” as well as a provision that would increase tax rates once the cannabis industry within LA reaches an aggregate of $1.5 Billion in total gross receipts.
After numerous iterations, the final regulations officially went into effect on June 6, 2018 and are set to expire on December 4, 2018. These amended emergency regulations were initially released to the public on May 18, and then filed with the Office of Administrative Law on May 25, 2018. The state’s regulatory agencies proposed changes to certain provisions in order to provide greater clarity to licensees and address issues that have arisen since the emergency regulations went into effect. The re-adoption of the emergency regulations have extended the effective period for an additional 180 days. After the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) posted the proposed emergency regulations on their website, there was a five-day public comment period on the finding of emergency.
