How Cannabis Fared in the California Elections

As we wrote on Tuesday, the midterm elections were monumental for cannabis: Michigan voters approved of a proposal legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use, Utah and Missouri will soon establish medical marijuana regimes, and Texas Representative and marijuana antagonist Pete Sessions lost to a Democrat.

All in all, Tuesday was a good day at the state and national level. But cannabis wasn’t just on the ballot at the state or national level—many cities had measures on that would regulate cannabis in one form or another. This post discusses some of the more impactful ballot measures that won and lost in California.

To start, dozens of cities and counties in California had cannabis taxation measures, which is a good sign for the expanding market. Oakland voters, for example, approved of Measure V, which amends the local code to allow cannabis manufacturers and cultivators to deduct the value of raw materials when calculating gross receipts for tax purposes. Fresno voters approved of Measure A, which adopts a cannabis business license tax. As noted above, numerous cities had tax measures on the ballot—and they are quite literally all over the map.

El Dorado County had a number of cannabis measures on its ballot. Measures P, Q, R, and S each passed, allowing the retail sale, delivery, distribution, and outdoor/indoor cultivation of commercial cannabis for recreational and medicinal purposes. Interestingly, El Dorado County’s Measure N (a tax measure), didn’t pass.

Los Angeles County’s well-publicized Measure B, which would have established a municipal bank, failed. This was a closely watched measure in the cannabis industry, as many had hoped for a local bank in which to bank their earnings. Because the California effort to charter a state bank has cooled, local businesses may have limited options until a federal fix occurs.

Elsewhere, the City of Malibu passed Measure G, which will now allow retail sales of commercial cannabis and deliveries. Before, Malibu only allowed medicinal sales. But wait before delivering into Malibu from other cities; you’ll need a regulatory permit from the City of Malibu to do so. No word yet on what that application process will look like.

As noted above, these are just a few of the measures that were adopted (or not) on Tuesday. California, like many other places nationally, is certainly moving toward a more open marijuana landscape.