Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee held Senate Bill 148, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), related to the collection of fees and taxes in association with commercial cannabis.
To participate in the commercial cannabis market, a variety of fees and taxes must be paid from licensed cannabis entities to state and local regulatory agencies. It is anticipated that much of these payments will be made in cash due to federal banking restrictions. Supported by RCRC, SB 148 would have allowed the State Board of Equalization or a county to collect cash payments from cannabis-related businesses for state agencies that administer fees, fines, penalties, taxes, or other charges payable by a cannabis-related business. In addition, the bill would have allowed the BOE to collect county-imposed regulatory fees and taxes.
RCRC will continue to look for opportunities to address the proper management of cash derived from licensed cannabis entities. This will enable state and local licensing entities to collect monies from industry participants, and thus, improve the integrity of the overall regulatory framework which is slated to become fully operational in 2018.