Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 2015
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Jessica Kwong

EFFORT TO REPEAL DEADLINE FOR POT RULES NOT SLOWING RUSH TO BAN CULTIVATION

Orange County cities rushing to push medical marijuana regulations 
through aren't necessarily backpedaling, despite an effort to repeal 
a state dead line.

The requirement that cities ban or regulate marijuana cultivation and 
delivery before March 1 or cede the decision to the state was 
"inadvertently included" in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and 
Safety Act, said Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg.

Wood, an author of the legislation that was signed into law in 
October, last week sent an open letter to county and city government 
officials stating he had learned that municipalities were scrambling 
to pass their own regulations ahead of the deadline.

"I understand this reaction," wrote Wood, but that "during the 
scramble at the end of the legislative session this year, an 
inadvertent drafting error placed a deadline on local jurisdictions."

Santa Ana, one of several Orange County cities that have taken 
action, advanced last week an ordinance reaffirming its ban on 
marijuana cultivation and delivery  and "the driver was that initial 
dead line that was listed on the bill," said Robert Cortez, a special 
assistant to the city manager.

"To be quite honest with you, we weren't aware of the deadline 
error," Cortez said Monday. But, he said, "I don't think it changes 
the need (for the ban), I think the city would continue with its position."

Wood said he published a letter in the Assembly Journal, the official 
record of the body, as soon as he was aware of the error, declaring 
he intends to pass urgency legislation when the legislature returns 
from winter recess in January to strike the deadline, and that he has 
"bipartisan and stake holder support."

A new deadline date is "indefinite right now," said Wood's spokesman 
Paul Ramey.

Laguna Woods, which last week moved forward an ordinance banning 
commercial marijuana cultivation but continues to allow patients and 
primary caregivers to grow, isn't changing its course either. 
Assistant City Manager Doug Reilly said he had heard a rumor but 
wanted to move forward because the deadline elimination "is not going 
to necessarily happen."

"There is no certainty that will actually happen. The language is 
that in the state law now," Reilly said, "And so I think we would be 
failing to do our due diligence on this."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom