February 23, 2018 Edition
Today, the CHEAC Legislative Committee met in-person in Sacramento to review the first batch of new bills introduced by the Legislature in 2018. In reviewing nearly 80 new measures, the Legislative Committee conducted an initial assessment of the potential impact on local health departments and public health and took positions on a number of measures. CHEAC Staff will be updating the bill chart with these new measures, as identified by the Legislative Committee, and posting the updated bill chart next week.
Recall, the Legislature’s deadline for bill introductions was last Friday, February 16. The Legislature introduced nearly 1,600 new measures during last week alone. The CHEAC Legislative Committee will be meeting in-person again on Friday, March 9 to review the second batch of these new measures and assess the potential impact on public health. Stay tuned for additional new bills and updated CHEAC Weekly Bill Charts.
Earlier this week a joint convening of the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, the Assembly Agriculture Committee, and the Assembly Health Committee was held for an update on the implementation of cannabis regulation in California. Encompassing three panels, members of these three policy committees heard from the state agencies responsible for implementing California’s new cannabis laws and regulations, a local panel, including CSAC, the League of Cities and the California Police Chiefs on local impacts, and an industry panel including dispensaries, growers and manufacturers for their perspective as a newly regulated industry.
Representatives from the Attorney General’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the state cannabis regulatory agencies, Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the California Department of Public Health provided an update on their roles in implementing this new regulatory scheme. Committee members focused most of their questions on enforcement, the slow implementation of the track and trace system, and issues facing small cannabis growers. A background paper for the hearing provides a history of cannabis regulation in California can be found at this link: Cannabis Regulation: An Update on Statewide Implementation.