Trimming marijuana taxes + SB 50 advances to GO + Health care industry gives for homeless
Good morning, and hope you had a good Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Andrew Sheeler here. It’s the beginning of another newsy week in the Capitol, so let’s get started, shall we?
A BREAK FOR CANNABIS COMPANIES?
A bill to lower the tax burden on California’s licensed cannabis companies is back, and has bipartisan support.
Assemblymen Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, and Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, were on-hand Friday to announce Assembly Bill 1948, the spiritual successor of last year’s Assembly Bill 286, which for three years would have eliminated the state’s cannabis cultivation tax and lowered the state’s retail excise tax from 15 percent to 11 percent.
In his remarks at a press conference announcing the bill, Bonta acknowledged that he and other lawmakers have been working on cannabis issues for years. AB 286 was held up by the Assembly Appropriations Committee last year, and a similar bill from Lackey was held in the same place in 2018.
“Sometimes, good things take time,” Bonta said.
Bonta said that AB 1948 has a strong tailwind behind it, in the form of support from bill sponsor State Treasurer Fiona Ma and a newly released Legislative Analyst’s Office report calling for a restructuring of the state’s cannabis tax system.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, too, signaled in his proposed 2020-21 budget that he is amenable to changing the tax system.
The United Cannabis Business Association, an industry trade group, issued a statement praising the bipartisan bill.
“Tax reform is one of the strongest tools that we have available to us today to combat the illicit cannabis market, which is currently three times the size of the legal industry and presents a clear public health threat to Californians who are provided easy access to untested products through unlicensed shops,” said UCBA President Jerred Kiloh. “Temporarily lowering the burden of taxation on the licensed industry will help permanently move consumers away from the dangers of the illicit market by incentivizing them to shop with legal retailers where they will have access to tested, traced and taxable products.”
SB 50 DODGES SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins on Friday removed a major obstacle for Senate Bill 50, a sweeping housing reform bill.
Atkins, D-San Diego, announced that she is pulling SB 50 from the Senate Appropriations Committee — which last year shelved the bill when local governments objected to it — and placing it back in the Senate Rules Committee, where it can proceed to a floor vote.
“I believe there is a good faith effort being made to enable California to reach SB 50’s goals of building more affordable homes that increase access to jobs, reduce the time people have to spend in their cars, and help meet California’s climate change targets,” Atkins said in a statement announcing her decision. “While many communities still have clear concerns about SB 50, our affordable housing crisis demands we make every attempt to reach agreement on potential solutions.”
After it stalled in Senate Appropriations last year, SB 50’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, amended the bill after months of negotiations with local government leaders who argued that the bill infringes on local regulations.
Wiener’s office declined to comment on Atkins’ decision.
The California Association of Realtors, a co-sponsor of SB 50, issued a statement thanking Atkins for her decision.
“California lawmakers have the opportunity to make 2020 the year of housing supply and we’re encouraged by the Legislature’s focus on this in the first few weeks of the year,” the group said in a statement. “We know that increasing the housing supply is the best long-term solution to making the dream of homeownership a reality for millions more Californians.”
The move was blasted by groups like the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, which in a tweet called the move a “backroom handshake deal.”
$45 MILLION FOR HOMELESSNESS
Via Sophia Bollag...
Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield of California are pledging to spend millions of dollars to support Newsom’s push to reduce homelessness. Kaiser will contribute $25 million and Blue Shield will give $20 million to the homelessness fund Newsom established last week.
The two health care organizations are the first to commit money to the fund. Newsom wants the state to put $750 million into the same effort through the 2020-21 budget. The money could be used to pay rent for homeless people, build housing for them and improve shelters.
The fund is part of a broader effort by Newsom to reduce homelessness in California, which has become the state’s highest-profile issue in recent months. He’s also freeing up trailers from the state vehicle fleet and unused state properties to get people off the streets, and is pushing to revamp the state’s health care program for the poor to include housing services.
It’s one of several areas Newsom is trying to persuade California companies to contribute philanthropic money to help the state with its biggest problems. Newsom has also convinced Apple, Facebook and Google to contribute billions to a separate effort to fund affordable housing.
AB 495 STALLS
Assembly Bill 495, which would ban several toxic chemicals in California, didn’t make it past the Assembly Health Committee.
Bill co-author Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Rolling Hills Estates, expressed disappointment with the committee in a tweet Friday.
“The bill was defeated by just one vote. We will try to re-introduce the bill because women deserve to know that their cosmetics and body products are toxin-free,” Muratsuchi wrote.
The decision also drew condemnation from CALPIRG, whose advocate Laura Deehan said the Assembly “missed a huge opportunity to protect public health by banning known toxic chemicals from our beauty and personal care products. “
Deehan added, “We hope the Legislature remains committed to addressing the very real public health concerns that this bill intended to address. California consumers should have assurance that the ingredients in our beauty products are safe for our bodies.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“None of them have ever watched wildfires burn down their parks, preschools, come within 500 feet of their homes. I have.”
– RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote, via Twitter. Miller’s post was in response to a tweet from New York Times Editorial Board member Binyamin Appelbaum that none of the Democratic candidates for president “really seems all that concerned about climate change.”
Best of the Bee:
CalPERS’ market value reached $400 billion Thursday, reaching a new landmark and reflecting a doubling of the fund’s portfolio from 10 years ago, via Wes Venteicher.
California teachers are fighting for a change in a law that requires them to compensate the school district for the cost of hiring a substitute teacher if they take extended sick leave, via Hannah Wiley and Sawsan Morrar.
Democrats are pushing hard to do away with the $10,000 limit on how much in state and local taxes Americans can deduct on their federal tax returns — a big deal in high-tax states such as California and New York, where the cap has cost many people serious money, via David Lightman.
The federal judge overseeing PG&E Corp.’s criminal probation is considering ordering the beleaguered utility to order more tree trimmers in a move designed to enhance wildfire safety, via Dale Kasler.
