Mayor Robert Garcia stressed the importance of AB 266 during last Tuesday’s council meeting. According to Garcia, the bill could offer some solid answers for cities that have tried to adopt local laws on dispensaries and cultivation sites.
For years, it’s been a struggle for city officials to determine just how to regulate medical cannabis. Long Beach City officials have tried— and failed— to keep an ordinance on dispensaries and cultivation sites on the books. The previous council had adopted one ordinance but eventually voted to ban these businesses from operating, especially after numerous legal challenges. One court determined that parts of the City’s ordinance conflicted with federal law.
The council has yet to weigh in on another draft city ordinance now that it went through a review by two groups— the Planning Commission and the Medical Cannabis Task Force. However, there is a possibility that AB 266 could pass by the end of next week. Garcia said that
he was told that AB 266 is gaining bipartisan support in the State Legislature and has even received support by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.
Garcia explained the significance of this particular piece of legislation.
“That legislative framework will give us an answer [to] a variety of questions that the council has had for many years on types of licenses, on testing, on actually where and when you can grow,” Garcia told the council.
Garcia admonished the council to ensure that whatever ordinance is crafted and passed adheres to the legislation that the governor signs. The mayor acknowledged that the state legislation has changed considerably since it was first proposed. Garcia said that at this stage, the proposed legislation has moved forward as a “placeholder” bill and that the governor’s office is working with the legislature to finalize a draft.
Time is running out for the law to pass. Garcia said that the deadline for state lawmakers to pass any bill is Sept. 11, and the governor must sign it into law prior to Oct. 11.
Garcia described how the bill could provide cities with the option to adopt the statewide regulations and then approve its own local zoning laws. Cities would still have the option to have a ban on medical-marijuana businesses, he said, adding that the state law offers the cities to have flexibility on the controversial issue.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Pot-task-force-for-JUMP.jpg” credit=”CJ Dablo/Signal Tribune” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Proposed legislation could offer a statewide regulatory framework for medical-marijuana dispensaries and cultivation sites if it is passed by California lawmakers before Sept. 11. On a local level, regulation of these businesses has been debated for years by city officials. This week, the Long Beach City Council has asked the city attorney’s office to exam- ine how the state law could affect the City’s own proposed ordinance on medical-marijuana business. The Council will discuss the report on Sept. 22.” captionposition=”left”] The council opted to wait for the city attorney’s office to analyze how AB 266 would affect the ordinance draft, but they didn’t give the staff a lot of time.
The council voted 8-1 in favor of Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal’s motion that, among other things, directed the city attorney’s office to report back by Sept. 22 on the implications of AB 266. Lowenthal also requested that the city attorney review the recommendations of the task force and how they differed or were similar to those of the Planning Commission.
Fifth District Councilmember Stacy Mungo was the lone dissenting vote against Lowenthal’s motion. That night she offered her own substitute motion, which requested that if the city attorney’s office could not present a report by Sept. 18— the deadline for materials to be submitted to the city clerk’s office for publication— the issue be tabled until the next council meeting on Oct. 6.
That substitute motion failed. The council voted 7-2 against it. Third District Councilmember Suzie Price and Mungo were the only ones on the Council who favored that substitute motion.
Larry King and a few others shared their own stories of how the years of delay on an ordinance have affected them.
King, a task-force member and former dispensary operator, criticized those who questioned the need to rush to pass an ordinance. King himself had offered his own ordinance to be presented alongside the city attorney’s ordinance draft. He remembered the members of his own family who were treated successfully with medical cannabis and those who had passed away.
“You say, ‘What’s the rush?’ People are dying,” he told the council.
Others disagreed. A few hoped to keep the ban in place. Fifth District resident Doug Kramer told the Council of his concerns with dispensaries associated with crime.
“I know we want to be compassionate as a community,” he said, “but we also have to weigh the interests of the community at large, and there are some serious safety issues here. There are some serious financial issues here, and I ask that you take them into account.”
The delay to discuss the medical marijuana ordinance is only a few weeks away, but Garcia early in the meeting stressed the importance of waiting for more answers.
“While I’m as frustrated [with] the timeline as everybody else,” Garcia told the council Tuesday, “I think these two weeks are going to be very decisive weeks in the conversation about medicinal cannabis in the entire state of California.”
