Bill Text: CA SB820 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Cannabis: enforcement: seizure of property.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-04-29 - Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and PUB. S. [SB820 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB820-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
May 01, 2023 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
April 10, 2023 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
March 21, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 820
| Introduced by Senator Alvarado-Gil |
February 17, 2023 |
An act to add Section 26038.2 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to cannabis.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 820, as amended, Alvarado-Gil.
Cannabis: enforcement: seizure of property.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA establishes the Department of Cannabis Control within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to administer the act, and requires the department to be under the supervision and control of a director. MAUCRSA provides that a person engaging in commercial cannabis activity without a license is subject to civil penalties, as
specified.
The bill would would, subject to specified exceptions, authorize the department or any a local jurisdiction jurisdiction, after obtaining an inspection warrant, to seize specified property in the place or building, or within any yard or enclosure, where commercial cannabis activity is conducted without a license required by MAUCRSA, and
MAUCRSA. The bill would also authorize the department or a local jurisdiction to seize any a vehicle used to conceal, convey, carry, deliver, or transport cannabis or cannabis products by or for a person engaging in commercial cannabis activity without that license. license, except as specified. The bill would impose requirements for notice of seizure, forfeiture proceedings, and the sale and distribution of proceeds upon a judgment in favor of the forfeiture.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 26038.2 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:26038.2.
(a) (1)(A) Cannabis or cannabis products.
(B) Processing equipment for trimming, drying, curing, sorting, weighing, or packaging cannabis or cannabis products.
(C) Implements of husbandry.
(D) Packaging materials.
(E) Hoop houses.
(F) Irrigation and water equipment.
(G) Generators.
(H) Lighting equipment.
(I) Heating, air, and ventilation equipment.
(J) Packaged soil and nutrients.
(K) Pesticides.
(L) Grading equipment.
(M) Manufacturing machinery and equipment.
(N) Security systems and equipment.
(O) Firearms.
(P) Fencing.
(Q) Shelving and storage equipment.
(R) Tools.
(S) Raised beds and planting pots.
(T) Computers and computer accessories related to the unlicensed commercial cannabis activity.
(U) Currency, negotiable instruments, or securities in excess of forty thousand dollars ($40,000).
(2) The Except as provided in subdivision (b), the department
or any local jurisdiction may seize an automobile or other vehicle used to conceal, convey, carry, deliver, or transport cannabis or cannabis products valued at more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) by or for a person engaging in commercial cannabis activity without a license required by this division.
(b) (1) This section does not apply to commercial cannabis activity conducted without a license required by this division that is limited to harvesting, drying, or processing fewer than 1,000 living cannabis plants.
(2) Real property
is not subject to seizure or forfeiture under this section.
(c) (1) Any person whose property has been seized for forfeiture under this section may, within 10 days after the seizure, petition the department or local jurisdiction, as applicable, to return the property upon the grounds that the property was illegally or erroneously seized.
(2) Any petition filed pursuant to this subdivision shall be considered by the department or local jurisdiction within 60 days after filing, and an oral hearing shall be granted to the petitioner if requested. The department or local jurisdiction shall serve notice of its decision upon the petitioner.
(3) If property is determined to be illegally or erroneously seized, the department or local jurisdiction shall order the property to be returned to the petitioner.
(b)
(d) When property is seized pursuant to this section, the property shall be subjected to a forfeiture proceeding in the superior court as provided in this section, and these forfeitures are hereby declared to be statutory forfeitures.
(c)
(e) Notice of the seizure and of the intended forfeiture proceeding shall be filed with the clerk of the court and shall be served on all persons, firms, or corporations having a right, title, or interest in the property seized. If the owner or owners are unknown or cannot be found, notice of the seizure and intended forfeiture proceedings shall be made upon those owners by publication pursuant to Section 6061 of the Government Code in the county where the seizure was made.
(d)
(f) Within 20 days after service of the notice of seizure and intended forfeiture proceedings, or within 20 days after the date of publication, the owner or owners of the property seized may file a verified answer to the fact of the alleged use of the property as described in subdivision (a).
subdivisions (a) and (b). The claimant of a right, title, or interest in the property seized may make a verified answer to establish the claimant’s claim as provided in paragraph (1) of subdivision (g).
(i). An extension of time shall not be granted for the purpose of making the verified answer.
(e)
(g) If, at the end of 20 days after the notice has been mailed or published, there is no verified answer on file, the court shall hear evidence upon the fact of use of the property as described in subdivision (a)
subdivisions (a) and (b) and, upon proof thereof, shall order the property forfeited to the State of California.
(f)
(h) (1) If a verified answer has been filed, the forfeiture proceeding may be set for hearing on a day within 30 days from the date of filing, and notice of this proceeding shall be given to the owner or owners filing verified answers.
(2) At the time set for the hearing, an owner who has verified answers on file may show by competent evidence that
a preponderance of the evidence any of the following:
(A) That the property was did not in fact used in the manner meet the criteria described in subdivision (a).
subdivisions (a) and (b).
(B) That the property was not used, or intended to be used, to facilitate unlicensed commercial cannabis activity.
(C) That the owner of the property seized did not own, manage, direct, or control any part of the unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, or have a financial interest in the commercial cannabis activity as defined by regulation of the department.
(D) That at the time of seizure, a complete application for a license under this division had been submitted by an authorized applicant for the commercial cannabis activity and had not been approved or denied by the department or abandoned or withdrawn by the applicant.
(3) If the fact is determined that property was not used as described in subdivision (a), court finds any of the facts described in paragraph (2), the court shall order the property released to the owner or owners of the property.
(g)
(i) (1) At the time set for the hearing the claimant of a right, title, or interest in the property under a lien, mortgage,
or conditional sales contract that is officially of record may prove that the lien, mortgage, or conditional sales contract is bona fide and was created after a reasonable investigation of the moral responsibility, character, and reputation of the lienholder, mortgagee, or vendor and without any knowledge that the property was being, or was to be, used in the manner set forth in subdivision (a). subdivisions (a) and (b).
(2) If the lienholder, mortgagee, or vendor proves the facts set forth in paragraph (1), the court shall order the property released to them if the amount due to them is equal to, or in excess of, the value of the property. If the amount due to them is
less than the value of the property, the property shall be sold at public auction by the department or the local jurisdiction, and the remainder of the proceeds of the sale, after payment of the balance due on the purchase price, mortgage, or lien, shall be distributed pursuant to subdivision (h).
(j).
(h)
(j) Upon a judgment in favor of the forfeiture, the property shall be sold at public auction by the department or the local jurisdiction. The proceeds of that sale shall be distributed as follows:
(1) To the department or local jurisdiction for all expenditures made or incurred by it in connection with the seizure, forfeiture, and sale of the property, including expenditures for any necessary repairs, storage, or
transportation of any property seized under this section.
(2) The remaining funds shall be distributed as follows:
(A) In the case of property seized by the department, the funds shall be paid to the Treasurer for deposit into the Cannabis Control Fund.
(B) In the case of property seized by a local jurisdiction, 15 percent of the funds shall be paid one-half to the local jurisdiction and one-half
85 percent of the funds shall be paid to the Treasurer for deposit into the Cannabis Control Fund.
(C) All revenue deposited in the Cannabis Control Fund as provided in this section shall be available, upon appropriation of the Legislature, exclusively to carry out the provisions of the California Cannabis Equity Act (Chapter 23 (commencing with Section 26240)).
(i)
(k) The remedies or penalties provided by this section are cumulative to the remedies or penalties available under other
law.
