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Although the legislation introduced would have directly repealed the proposed tax increase, since then it has been modified to delay its implementation until fiscal year 2030-2031.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.
California’s cannabis industry generated nearly $248 million in tax revenue during the first quarter of 2026, according to the California Department of Taxation and Fee Administration.
The total includes $143.6 million in cannabis excise and $104.3 million in cannabis sales taxes. The figures do not account for unpaid returns or those still being processed, officials at a press release.
Quarterly tax revenue represents a drop from the previous quarter, which officials revised to $257.6 million (from $255.1 million) due to amended and delayed returns.
Additionally, based on the latest figures, the market’s total tax revenue since California began sales of adult-use cannabis now exceeds $8.1 billion, including $4.34 billion in excise taxes, more than $3.28 billion in sales taxes and $500.6 million in a now-suspended cultivation tax, which lawmakers is eliminated in the year 2022.
Cannabis excise duty is applied at the retail level based on gross receipts. State sales tax is added after the excise tax is applied.
Meanwhile, in March, the Los Angeles City Council asked city officials draft language for an “amnesty” program for the city’s cannabis businesses, which collectively owed hundreds of millions in back taxes and fees.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Graham is the editor-in-chief of Ganjapreneur. He has been writing about the legalization landscape since 2012 and has contributed to Ganjapreneur since our official launch in…
More from Graham Abbott
Legal cannabis sales in California generated nearly $248 million in tax revenue in the first three months of 2026, according to new data released by the state on Wednesday.
The California Department of Revenue reported that cannabis retailers earned $143.6 million in hemp excise taxes and another $104.3 million in sales taxes during the first quarter of the year.
Figures current as of May 18 do not include outstanding tax returns or documents still being processed.
Since California legalized the sale of recreational marijuana in January 2018, the cannabis industry has generated more than $8.1 billion in state tax revenue, according to CDTFA.
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A study published this week by researchers from the University of California, Riverside, determined that cannabis can help treat obesity and diabetes. SFGATE reports.
Researchers found that when given a concentrated cannabis oil, obese mice lost weight and saw benefits in their metabolic functions.
UC Riverside professor Nicholas DiPatrizio, lead author of the study, told SFGATE that the research could lead to new dietary therapies.
“We can develop molecules that can be based on cannabis, isolate them and maybe even do better than nature. We’re just at the beginning,” DiPatrizio told SFGATE.
“We’re not saying people should use cannabis to reverse diabetes. We’d like to find specifically the chemical involved that doesn’t lead to intoxication. That’s what’s exciting about this work. The intoxicating chemical alone doesn’t.” — DiPatrizio, in report
DiPatrizio said the study aimed to investigate data showing that cannabis users have fewer problems related to weight and diabetes than non-users.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Graham is the editor-in-chief of Ganjapreneur. He has been writing about the legalization landscape since 2012 and has contributed to Ganjapreneur since our official launch in…
More from Graham Abbott