California Lawmakers And Advocates Urge Governor To Sign Bills To Allow Marijuana Sales At State-Run Farmers Markets And Legalize Cannabis Cafes

Lawmakers, advocates and industry stakeholders are imploring California’s governor to sign a pair of bills that would allow small marijuana growers to sell their products directly to consumers at state-organized farmers markets and legalize cannabis cafes in the state.

Shortly after both proposals advanced through the legislature, supporters have stepped up their push to get it across the finish line with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) signature. While the governor supports cannabis legalization, however, he’s been notably reserved about various drug policy proposals in recent years.

Assemblymember Matt Haney (D), sponsor of the marijuana cafe bill, held a press conference last week where he made the case for the reform, noting that there are “cannabis lounges that exist all over the state,” but currently “they’re being prohibited—in an arbitrary, misguided way—from being able to serve any food or non-alcoholic beverages.”

“The governor recently said that the future happens here first. He was talking about California. Well, this is the future,” the lawmaker said. “This is the future when it comes to adult-use cannabis. It’s the future when it comes to supporting our cannabis small businesses and their ability to thrive. It’s the future when it comes to California’s tourism.”

[embedded content]

Newsom vetoed a prior version of Haney’s bill, saying that while he appreciated that the intent was to “provide cannabis retailers with increased business opportunities and an avenue to attract new customers,” he felt “concerned this bill could undermine California’s long-standing smoke-free workplace protections.”

To that end, the measure as passed contains changes to create separation between public consumption spaces and back rooms of businesses where food is prepared or stored in order to better protection the health of workers in line with the governor’s concerns.

“It is a legal product in our state, and has wide support from Californians,” Haney said last week. “So why are we treating it as something that should be shunned, something that is shut down, something that people cannot do in the company of others?”

The lawmaker also addressed a recent statement from the American Cancer Society (ACS), which urged the governor to veto his legislation out of concern about the potential health implications of smoke exposure.

“If you’re worried about secondhand smoke, shouldn’t we give people safe places to go—to consume with others who have made that choice?” Haney said. “Right now, because of the limits on where people can smoke legally, many people may be forced to smoke at home, around their kids, or in a car or on the street where others are walking by.”

“If you’re worried about secondhand smoke, support us in giving people safe places to go where there are protections and where people have made that choice,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Origins Council and several other cannabis trade associations sent a letter to Newsom late last month, encouraging him to sign the separate legislation from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D) that would authorize regulators to issue “a state temporary event license to a licensee authorizing onsite cannabis sales to, and consumption by, persons 21 years of age or older at certain venues expressly approved by a local jurisdiction, as specified.”

Applicants wishing to obtain the state temporary events license would also need to meet the definition of a small marijuana producer. That means they could not be cultivating more than one acre of cannabis, 22,000 square feet under a mixed-light tier 1 cultivation license or 5,000 square feet under a mixed-light tier 2 or indoor cultivation license.

“Under existing California law, small cannabis farmers are only authorized to conduct direct sales at events if they hold a full-time license as a cannabis retailer,” the letter to Newsom says. “This current requirement is not just unnecessary: it also puts direct sales practically out of reach for most small and especially rural cultivators, who generally lack the financial resources and commercial zoning to support a full-time retail operation.”

“As small producers face dire market conditions and limited market access opportunities, AB 1111 is the only policy currently on the Governor’s desk that specifically takes steps to address the challenges facing California’s craft cannabis cultivators and legacy producing regions. With small producers struggling, consumers and patients losing access to high-quality craft products, and potential federal legalization looming on the horizon, AB 1111 is a critical and timely opportunity for California to reassert our leadership as a global center for world-renowned cannabis.”

The legislation would expand upon a California law that was enacted in 2018, allowing regulators to issue temporary marijuana event licenses in jurisdictions where the local government permits it.

It was that policy change that allowed marijuana sales and on-site consumption at the California State Fair for the first time this year. Under that policy, approved retailers could market their cannabis, whereas this latest legislation would extend that to small cultivators that received the necessary license.

The calls for the governor’s support for both comes as Newsom is attempting to rein in the proliferation of products that contain intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids with new emergency regulations to outlaw hemp products with any “detectable amount of total THC.”

The Beer Association, which represents American brewers, recently applauded the governor’s action.

Separately in California, lawmakers this month gave final approval to a bill to prevent what advocates call the “double taxation” of marijuana by restricting the ability of local governments to calculate their cannabis levies after state taxes are already applied. The legislation’s sponsor says if the proposal is signed into law it will end what he calls the “collection of a tax on a tax.”

Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Has Enough Support To Pass, New Poll Finds As Trump Backs Reform

Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.