Alert: Department of Cannabis Control Announces Regulatory Actions

Department of Cannabis Control Announces Regulatory Actions

Approval of Consolidated Commercial Cannabis Regulations within the California Code of Regulations

DCC has taken the first step, in a multi-step process, to consolidate and streamline the regulations applicable to commercial cannabis licensees.

The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved the Department’s action to move the commercial cannabis regulations of the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health into one central location in the California Code of Regulations (CCR). The consolidated regulations can now be found at CCR, title 4, division 19, sections 15000 through 17999. In addition to section numbers changing, other minor technical changes have been made to the regulations, such as referencing the Department, instead of the prior licensing authorities and updating section and subsection numbers based on the chapters they are in.

There have been no changes to the requirements in the regulations. These regulations will govern all commercial cannabis licensees until the Department takes additional actions to consolidate and streamline the regulations.

View DCC’s consolidated regulations with the new numbering and technical changes and the Statements of Explanation for the changes:

Learn more about how DCC plans to combine the three sets of regulations into one.

Notice of Readoption of Emergency Regulations for Authorization and Release of Information to Financial Institutions

DCC is providing notice to the public of its intent to readopt its emergency regulations that implement the provisions of Assembly Bill 1525 (Jones-Sawyer, 2020). The emergency regulations facilitate greater access to financial services for licensed cannabis businesses who face challenges obtaining banking, insurance, and other financial services commonly available to other businesses.

The emergency regulations create a pathway for licensees to authorize sharing of non-public information with selected financial institutions and provide a mechanism for financial institutions to more readily conduct the federally-required reviews of the cannabis business. By reducing the burden of providing financial services to cannabis businesses, more financial institutions may be willing to provide services, thereby reducing the need to keep cash on-hand and improving public safety.

View the proposed regulatory text and supporting documents:

Following the required minimum five-working day notice to the public, the Department will file the readoption package with OAL. The five-calendar day formal public comment period begins when OAL publishes the proposed regulations as being “under review” on its website: https://oal.ca.gov/. Public comments must be submitted to both OAL and DCC to be considered. Specific instructions will be shared when the comment period opens.