Bad bills in California legislature, from people who watch…full wording of proposed bill at bottom.
From a contact in CDFW:
A number of bills have been introduced in Sac that are extremely troubling for cannabis enforcement. DFW is pretty much the last line of defense on watershed impacts from commercial cannabis cultivation, which remain extreme across our region despite a softening market for weed in its legal and illegal guises.
The really bad news is that the Department’s leadership is so weak that they keep getting rolled especially on cannabis enforcement issues, and apparently they are cutting a lot of deals now. Thus, AB 2545, which the Dept. opposed last year and was vetoed by the Gov, is back up this year without opposition from the Dept.
Word is that Jim Wood has left his wife and hooked up with a grower – thus his new interest in getting DFW out of the way of the cannabis industry as much as possible.
So as our friend said – all these garbage bills need to be stopped.
AB 1420 Water rights: small irrigation use: lake or streambed alteration agreements.
Would exempt small irrigation permittees from DFW Lake & Streambed Alteration permitting unless DFW shows otherwise. (Note that CalTrout, TU, and TNC supported this bill in 2017 – and nobody opposed it.)
AB 2525 Conservation of public lands: unlawful cannabis cultivation: mitigation and enforcement.
Wood is trying to force DFW to focus on public land trespass grows, when their attention is properly directed to private lands impacts (at least here on the North Coast).
“This bill would require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to collaborate with the Department of Parks and Recreation to conduct an annual survey of all public lands, as defined, and all surface water sources on public lands, for unlawful cannabis cultivation activity; to compile a database of unlawful cannabis cultivation activity occurring on public lands; and to ensure that this activity is eradicated by the Watershed Enforcement Team or other appropriate authority. The bill would require the Watershed Enforcement Team to prioritize the eradication of unlawful cannabis cultivation described in these provisions.”
AB 2545 Department of Fish and Wildlife: lake or streambed alteration agreements: definitions.
Would redefine “river” and “stream” to exclude smaller streams (ie Class III streams) from DFW jurisdiction for LSA review and permitting. A recipe for increased impacts in small headwaters streams.
AB 3102 Lake or streambed alteration agreements: limitation on mitigation measures: environment.
“would limit the measures to protect a fish or wildlife resource that may be proposed or included in a lake or streambed alteration agreement to the mitigation measures, if any, contained in the certified or adopted environmental document”
AB 3157 Taxation: cannabis.
Reduces excise taxes on cannabis retailers from 15 to 11%; delays imposition of tax on cultivators to 2021.
“This bill would reduce that excise tax rate to 11% on and after the effective date of this bill until June 1, 2021, at which time the excise tax rate would revert back to 15%. This bill would suspend the imposition of the cultivation tax on and after the effective date of this bill until June 1, 2021.”
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Attachment(s) from David Keller | View attachments on the web
6 of 6 File(s)
