Coauthored by Assembly Member Megan Dahle
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), approved by the voters as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. Under AUMA, a person 18 years of age or older who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or processes more than 6 living cannabis plants, or any part thereof, may be charged with a felony if specified conditions exist, including when the offense causes substantial environmental harm to public lands or other public resources.
This bill would add to the above-described conditions planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, or processing marijuana that results in substantial environmental harm to surface or groundwater. The bill would, notwithstanding these provisions, make it a crime for a person 18 years of age or older to plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process more than 50 living cannabis plants, or any part thereof, except as specified, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 6 months or by a fine of not more than $500, or both, or be charged with a felony, if specified conditions exist, including a violation of pesticide provisions, taking or using water from a conveyance or storage facility without permission, and extraction or use of groundwater from an unpermitted well or from a permitted well in excess of a restriction, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime and creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.