May 23, 2017 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
February 14, 2017 - Voters legalized the use of medical cannabis in California in 1996, and the Legislature approved the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA) in 2015. In November of 2016, voters approved Proposition 64, which legalized and created a regulatory framework for the nonmedical use of cannabis. In the coming year, the Legislature will face key choices about whether it wants to make statutory changes to bring the regulatory frameworks of MCRSA and Proposition 64 into greater alignment. Additionally, the Legislature will need to determine the staff and other resources to provide to the various agencies charged with regulating and taxing the cannabis industry. We recommend the Legislature (1) work with the administration to enact legislation to align the regulation of medical and nonmedical cannabis to the maximum extent possible, (2) make its decisions on the extent to which it wants to align the regulatory structures for medical and nonmedical cannabis before making its decisions on the Governor’s requested funding and related positions, and (3) take a more incremental approach to budgeting for departments that are requesting resources in 2017-18.
May 23, 2017 - Presented to: Assembly Committee on Business and Professions
May 4, 2017 - Presented to the following Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittees: Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy, and Transportation Health and Human Services State Administration and General Government
April 24, 2017 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration
May 16, 2016 - This document summarizes the major changes to the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) included in the administration’s May Revision budget trailer legislation. It also raises several issues for the Legislature to consider as it reviews the MMRSA budget trailer legislation.
February 18, 2016 - The 2016-17 Budget: Overview of Governor’s Proposals to Implement the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act
February 25, 2020 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration Assembly Business and Professions Committee
February 16, 2017 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
December 20, 2016 - The Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA) provides a statutory framework for regulating medical cannabis and Proposition 64 of 2016 provides a statutory framework for regulating nonmedical cannabis. In this web post, we provide a preliminary review of the key differences between MCRSA and Proposition 64. We also describe some overarching issues for Legislative consideration.
(Updated 1/9/17)
February 21, 2014 - In this report, we analyze the Governor's 2014-15 budget for the state's resources and environmental protection programs. We review and make recommendations on a number of major policy proposals, including a review of the administration's recently released Water Action Plan as well as the proposal to reduce or eliminate several programs currently funded by the Beverage Container Recycling Fund (commonly referred to as the "bottle bill"). We find that these policy proposals are generally reasonable approaches, though we identify trade-offs in the proposals and offer recommendations for legislative consideration. The report also identifies several issues included in the Governor's budget that merit additional legislative oversight. This includes the proposal to provide the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection with a total of $43 million from the General Fund to address deferred maintenance backlogs. While we find that it makes fiscal sense to address deferred maintenance, there is uncertainty about what factors have contributed to the large backlogs, as well as how the state can best address maintenance needs on an ongoing basis.
March 8, 2017 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources and Transportation
February 17, 2017 - In this analysis, we discuss our findings and recommendations regarding three proposals for the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) included in the Governor's 2017-18 budget: (1) BreEZe Information Technology System, (2) DCA Organizational Change Management, and (3) Registered Nursing Military Education and Experience. We discuss our findings and recommendations regarding DCA's two cannabis-related proposals in our recent report, The 2017-18 Budget: The Governor's Cannabis Proposals.
March 5, 2024 - In this post, we assess the Governor's proposal to increase the mill assessment—a tax levied on pesticides when first sold into or within the state—to address the structural deficit within the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s special fund and to support various programmatic expansions for the department.