Petition to Circulate that Creates Cannabis Fairness Act

On November 8, Robert and Trevor Milbrodt of Davis filed with the County Clerk’s Office a Notice of Intention to Circulate Petition.  The petition would put on the ballot a measure to adopt the Cannabis Fairness Act, “to treat cannabis the same as any other agricultural product, and for Yolo County to abide by the same regulatory standards as the State of California.”

The authors state as their reasoning: “California voters have approved medicinal and recreational cannabis cultivation, production, manufacture, distribution, sale, and use through Proposition 215 and Proposition 64. The State of California now has a legal framework for these uses that is fair to the cannabis industry. Yolo County needs to adopt these same standards and treat cannabis and the cannabis industry the same as any other plant, product, or business.”

The Cannabis Fairness Act

California voters have approved medicinal and recreational cannabis cultivation, production, manufacture, distribution, sale, and use through Proposition 215 and Proposition 64. The State of
California now has a legal framework for these uses that is fair to the cannabis industry. Yolo County needs to adopt these same standards and treat cannabis and the cannabis industry the same as any other plant, product, or business.

Therefore, the people of the County of Yolo ordain as follows:

1. Yolo County shall treat Cannabis as an agricultural product, which shall be eligible for all agricultural exemptions and benefits, and which shall not be designated or treated differently from other plants or plant based products.
2. Yolo County shall treat cannabis, cannabis products, and cannabis businesses the same as any other plant based agricultural business regarding operations, zoning, setbacks, nuisances, and any or all other plant based agricultural business regulations or restrictions.
3. Yolo County shall treat a cottage cannabis business the same as any other cottage agricultural business per State Law.
4. Yolo County shall issue all commercial cannabis permits within 30 days of an applicant submitting a written request to the County that complies with California State standards, and there shall be no fee for such permits.
5. Yolo County shall not publicize the locations of legitimate cannabis grow sites or businesses.
6. Yolo County shall aggressively prosecute all individuals or businesses operating any cannabis related activity without a required permit issued by Yolo County.
7. Yolo County shall impose no tax, charge, fee, or assessment of any kind upon cannabis cultivation, production, manufacturing, or distribution. Any such “taxes” or collections on the cannabis industry shall only be applied to retail transactions to end users; and any such “tax” shall not exceed an addition of2% to the sales tax that would otherwise be collected. Any such charges collected between November I, 2017 and the enactment of this initiative shall be fully refunded.
8. For all matters not covered by the preceding language, Yolo County shall not impose any regulations upon cannabis related activities that are more restrictive than established by the State of California.
9. If another citizen’s initiative should pass with any provisions that conflict with the provisions of this initiative, the initiative with a higher percentage of voter approval shall prevail, and any non-conflicting language shall remain in effect.
10. Yolo County shall recognize the provisions of this initiative for all cannabis operators with an active, pending or expired permit or interim permit from Yolo County prior to March 1, 2018 and subsequent to the adoption of this measure; but Yolo County shall not issue any more than 200 total cultivation or business cannabis permits until after November I, 2020, including permits already issued.
11. Amendment or repeal of any of the preceding provisions shall only be made by voter approval at a regularly scheduled election.

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