Approximately one month after state officials announced that the tax rate of cannabis taxes would increase from 15 to 19 percent on July 1, the assembly voted 74-0 to approve the legislation of the Matt Haney Assembly (D) to delay the change for five years.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration, but the defenders hope to see their language incorporated to a separate budget trailer that would enter into force with promulgation, unlike next year, as would be the case under Haney’s bill.
Although the legislation introduced would have directly repealed the proposed tax increase, since then it has been modified to delay its implementation until fiscal year 2030-2031.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) officials applauded the assembly vote.
Joe Duffle, president of Local UFCW 1167, said that increasing the tax rate “would only increase the number of failed legal cannabis” in the state.
“AB 564 Freezes the special cannabis tax at 15 percent and gives cannabis legal businesses an opportunity to fight to keep afloat in an industry that is all contracting saying. “Without this bill, the illegal cannabis industry will only bloom and will continue to put unseeded cannabis products, not turns and not regulated in the hands of consumers.”
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Under the legislation, The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), Working With The Department of Finance, Would Be Require by a Cannabis retailer that the department estimates will generate an amount of renvenue equivalent to the amount what would Have Been Collected in the prior fiscal year year, ”The text by Bill says.
The department would need to “estimate the amount of income that would have been collected in the previous fiscal year in accordance with the weight -based cultivation tax” and “estimate this amount projecting the income of cultivation taxes based on the weight that would have been collected in the previous calendar year based on the information available for the department”.
“The specific objective of the reduction of the CANNABIS special tax rate is to provide immediate fiscal deduction to the cannabis industry,” says the measure. “The legislature can measure the effectiveness of this objective for the amount of gain or loss in the tax revenue of special cannabis taxes resulting from the reduction of the tax rate of special cannabis taxes allowed by this law.”
Also Mandates That CDTFA, on December 1, 2026, and every later year, California “presents a report to the Legislature … which details the amount of gain or loss in the tax revenues of special cannabis taxes resulting from the reduction of the tax rate of special cannabis taxes allowed by this law.”
The ruling of the Supreme Court of the State also arrived only weeks after California officials presented a Report on the current state and the future of the state marijuana marketWith independent analysts hired by regulators concluding that the federal prohibition of cannabis that prevents interest trade is significantly reinforcing the illicit market.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill in 2022 that would have He empowered him to enter Commerce Agreements of Interestatal Cannabis with other legal states, but that power was concerned with the federal orientation or an evaluation of the State Attorney General who sanctioned said activity.
Shunning public health concerns, the City Council on Tuesday voted to move forward with plans to hold specially-permitted cannabis events within city limits.
On a 6-2 vote, with Council members Christina Duggan and Megan Kerr dissenting, the council agreed to return the item for a second reading before final approval. Once passed, the ordinance will allow the city to issue permits for events dedicated to the sale and consumption of cannabis.
The item, originally proposed in 2019 but shelved amid the coronavirus pandemic, was first studied by the city in 2024, with results released in January 2025. According to the developed plan, the city can issue up to a dozen permits to each state-licensed event organizer; each permit is good for an event of up to four days.
Public cannabis events will require a special permit, which is generally allowed on any city street, sidewalk, alley, park or pier. For cannabis-themed events on private land, this will require a one-day occasional event permit.
The city has listed the Queen Mary, Marina Green Park, Rainbow Lagoon, Waterfront Park, the city convention center and the soon-to-be-built Long Beach Amphitheater as potential sites.
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Officials in San Francisco, California, will soon consider allowing cannabis cafes, Bay City News reports. Rafael Mandelman, president of the County Board of Supervisors and District 8 representative, indicated he planned to introduce an ordinance to the board this week to amend city codes to allow businesses.
“We need to support our legal cannabis industry. Too often and in too many ways in San Francisco and in California, we do the opposite.” – Mandelman, via Bay City News
Mandelman indicated the proposal would change city codes related to health, law enforcement, planning and taxes.
Allowing food and drink sales in cannabis cafes was legalized nationwide in 2024. Businesses can sell non-cannabis products such as pastries, snacks and soft drinks. So far, cannabis cafes have opened in Sacramento, San Diego and West Hollywood.
According to state Assemblyman Matt Haney (D), who authored the bill to legalize cannabis cafes, legal cannabis sales in California have fallen by 20% since 2021, and social utility businesses can help revitalize the industry.
“It’s also about culture and community,” Haney said during a press conference Monday, “and what it means for us to be a country that shapes what cannabis culture looks like to the whole world.”
For centuries, the hemp flower has been the king of marijuana. And since legalization, flowers have always been the most popular item at legal pot shops in California. But now that dominance is over, thanks mostly to Gen Z. Cannabis Vape surpassed the flower in June and are consistently the best-selling product category in California, according to the state.
California shoppers spent more than 10% more on cannabis-infused vapes last month than flower, and more than 170% more on vapes than on food, according to state data.
This growth is driven primarily by Gen Z, which has a strong preference for portable vapes and is the first generation to prefer vape pens over any other cannabis product, according to data provided to SFGATE by cannabis analytics company Headset. In the last 12 months of national pot sales, Gen Z spent 38% of their money on vapor pens and only 32.5% on flowers, the next most popular category. This is in contrast to millennials, who spent 40.1% of their money on flowers and only 25.7% on vapes.
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