Legislative roundup: Medical marijuana bills pass Senate

SACRAMENTO (AP) — With California voters likely to consider legalizing recreational marijuana use next year, lawmakers appeared poised to regulate and rein in the state’s freewheeling medical marijuana industry ahead of a legislative deadline.

The Legislature was expected to finish voting Friday on a package of bills that would create the first statewide licensing and operating rules for pot growers and retail weed outlets since the state became the first to

legalize medical marijuana in 1996.

“After 20 years, we have an agreement on a comprehensive regulatory regime, and that is historic,” said Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, the lead author of the main Assembly bill.

The framework seeks to manage medical marijuana from seed to smoke, calling for 17 separate license categories, detailed labeling requirements and a product tracking system complete with bar codes and shipping manifests.

If enacted as drafted, it would not only impose strict controls on an industry that never has had to comply with any but provide a template for how recreational marijuana might be treated if it is legalized.

Racing to meet a deadline for passing the marijuana

plan hashed out late Thursday, senators on Friday night approved two of the three bills comprising the regulatory structure.

All three bills must pass for any of them to reach the governor’s desk.

Another major piece of legislation awaiting action Friday was a landmark climate change bill that Gov. Jerry Brown and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon were forced to scale back this week, and dozens of other bills.

Also Friday, a bipartisan group of 47 state Assembly members delivered a letter to Brown asking him to declare a special session to tackle problems related to the ongoing drought.

Editor’s note: The Legislature was still meeting as of The Signal’s deadline Friday night.