Marijuana Moment: California Senators Approve Bill To Let Marijuana Growers Sell Directly To Consumers At Farmers Markets

August 16, 2024

California senators have advanced an Assembly-passed bill that would allow regulators to issue a new license allowing small marijuana growers to sell their products directly to consumers at state-organized farmers markets and other temporary events.

The legislation from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D) was unanimously approved in the Senate Appropriations Committee in a 4-0 vote on Thursday. Adults would also be able to consume cannabis on-site at approved events.

The bill cleared the Assembly in late May with nearly unanimous support before moving to the Senate, where it passed through two committees. It now heads to the floor.

If approved, it will still need to go back to the Assembly for concurrence on Senate amendments, including one stipulating that the licensee can only sell and allow on-site consumption at “state temporary events.” The original language was broader, permitting such activity at “specified temporary events.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee also amended the legislation to delay implementation until January 1, 2026.

Under the proposal, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) would be authorized to issue “a state temporary event license to a licensee authorizing onsite cannabis sales to, and consumption by, persons 21 years of age or older at certain venues expressly approved by a local jurisdiction, as specified,” the bill text says.

Local jurisdictions would need to consent to allowing the events in order for a license to be granted.

Applicants wishing to obtain the state temporary events license would also need to meet the definition of a small marijuana producer. That means they could not be cultivating more than one acre of cannabis, 22,000 square feet under a mixed-light tier 1 cultivation license or 5,000 square feet under a mixed-light tier 2 or indoor cultivation license.

This would expand upon a California law that was enacted in 2018, allowing regulators to issue temporary marijuana event licenses in jurisdictions where the local government permits it.

It was that policy change that allowed marijuana sales and on-site consumption at the California State Fair for the first time this year.

Similar to the California bill that’s awaiting Senate floor consideration, New York lawmakers passed a measure in June that would make marijuana farmers markets a permanent feature of the state’s cannabis market.

The legislation would revive the cannabis growers showcase events that had been temporarily authorized but ended last year, authorizing regulators to continue issuing permits for the farmers markets indefinitely.

Back in California, a legislative plan to usher in sweeping changes to the state’s marijuana and hemp markets appears dead for the session after a Senate committee did not call the bill for a vote Thursday ahead of an end-of-week deadline.

Under a recently proposed amendment from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the measure would have folded hemp-derived cannabinoid products into the state’s regulated marijuana system and opened the door to out-of-state hemp producers to sell products into California’s cannabis market. It’s an attempt to rein in largely unregulated hemp-derived cannabinoid products and smokable hemp flower now widely available at places like gas stations and convenience stores.

Meanwhile, the governor signed a bill into law last month that’s meant to streamline the processing of applications to study psychedelics and marijuana.