TAX
Title: California Has Slow Start To Marijuana Tax Collections
Author: Cap Radio
Date: 8 May 2018
URL: http://www.capradio.org/articles/2018/05/08/california-has-slow-start-to-marijuana-tax-collections/
Extract:
So far, there’s been no tax windfall from legal marijuana in California.
Broad legal sales kicked off on Jan. 1, and state officials had estimated that California would bank $175 million from cultivation and excise taxes by the end of June.
But estimates released Tuesday by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office show $34 million came in between January and March, appearing well behind those initial projections.
“The excise tax revenue numbers announced today are abysmally below what Californians were promised when they voted to legalize recreational cannabis,” said Assemblyman Evan Low, a Democrat from Campbell who heads the Business and Professions Committee. “The state must take all possible action to defeat the black market and support good actors, or else our newly established regulatory scheme will surely fail.”
STATE
Title: Cannabis Country: Weed, wine, trees and the law
Author: Sonoma West
Date: 9 May 2018
Extract:
A bill recently drafted by State Senator Mike McGuire but not yet law has mustered only modest interest locally. That’s because there are currently 11 other marijuana bills before the California State legislature, some aimed at protecting cannabis patients and consumers.
AB-2069, for example, would prohibit employers from firing workers who use marijuana for medical conditions, though it would not protect them if and when they’re impaired and unable to carry out on-the-job responsibilities.
Cannabis has created a crowded and complex legal field that has given rise to a new generation of lawyers who are helping to write the rules.
SAN RAFAEL
Title: Editorial: San Rafael’s cannabis tax measure is a careful step forward
Author: Marin IJ.com
Date: 9 May 2018
Extract:
San Rafael City Hall is adjusting the city’s rules, after city and state voters endorsed the recreational use and sale of marijuana.
That is what Measure G on the June 5 ballot is all about. It is about the city wading ankle-deep into the legalization of marijuana — a realm that most Marin cities have been reluctant to enter and one that some cities and counties have embraced, allowing the opening of storefront cannabis shops and commercial growing grounds.
More than 20 years ago, California voters endorsed the sale and possession of medical marijuana. In San Rafael, despite local voter support for the “Compassionate Use Act,” the City Council passed a long-term moratorium on the sale and distribution of medical cannabis.
Last year, California voters endorsed the legalization of recreational marijuana. Again, despite having the support of 68 percent of the city’s voters, the council passed a ban on the sale and growing of recreational pot.
SAN BENITO
Title: County predicts millions from Measure C
Author: San Benito Magazine
Date: 10 May
URL: https://sanbenito.com/2018/05/10/county-predicts-millions-measure-c/
Extract:
Nearly four months after recreational marijuana sales became legal in California, voters in unincorporated San Benito County will vote June 5 whether to adopt Measure C, an ordinance to tax cannabis producers.
Before the voters have the opportunity to test the merits of taxing the expansion of the cannabis industry into rural San Benito County, a burgeoning industry already ramping up in Hollister.
In the fertile soils of San Benito County, cannabis could be a gold mine for local governments.
Measure C will impose a tax on cannabis business in the county based on square footage of the operation, or, gross receipts. The rates will range from $3 – $17 per square feet for cannabis cultivators. Gross sales for distributors will range from .5 to 4 percent, for manufacturers 2.5 to 4 percent, for retailers .5 to 8 percent, and 2.5 to 5 percent on microbusinesses, a special license that allows for every aspect of cannabis operation.
