A California Senate committee has approved an Assembly-passed bill to put a pause on a recently enacted tax hike on marijuana products. Senators also advanced proposals to revise regulations on hemp and to allow medical cannabis businesses to ship products directly to patients.
About a month after the cannabis tax legislation from Assemblymember Matt Haney (D) cleared an earlier panel in the Senate, the Appropriations Committee on Friday passed it in a 7-0 vote, with amendments. If enacted into law, the bill would pause the tax increase for five years.
An amendment adopted at the measure's last Senate panel stop would make it so the effective date would be in October, rather than immediately. The tax hike itself officially took effect last month. State officials announced in June that the cannabis excise tax rate would increase from 15 percent to 19 percent on July 1, and advocates held out hope that pending budget legislation would be amended to mirror Haney's standalone bill. That didn't come to fruition.
The passage of an earlier budget bill that Haney's measure responds to came despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) support for including a tax freeze in the trailer bill. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D) also backed the delay, but Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D) reportedly blocked it from the budget legislation.
Read more at Marijuana Moment
