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City of Vallejo Initiatives to Allow Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (2016)
| Vallejo Initiatives to Allow Medical Marijuana Dispensaries |
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| The basics |
| Election date: |
| Unknown |
| Status: |
| Not on the ballot |
| Topic: |
| Local marijuana |
| Related articles |
| Local marijuana on the ballot Local ballot measures, California Solano County, California ballot measures |
| See also |
| Vallejo, California |
Two initiatives seeking to allow the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries were not put on the ballot for Vallejo voters in Solano County, California, in 2016.
After the Vallejo City Council voted five to two in January 2015 to close down all medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and directed staff to prepare a regulatory ordinance that would allow a limited number of dispensaries to operate subject to city regulation, marijuana advocates and representatives of 11 existing, unregulated dispensaries in the city filed two initiatives that were designed to allow the operation of more dispensaries within the city.[1][2]
The city asked the court to determine the legality of the initiatives.[1]
On May 26, 2015, the Vallejo City Council voted to approve a regulatory ordinance allowing for the operation of four medical marijuana dispensaries according to local regulation. This ordinance, however, was subject to a successful veto referendum petition and repealed by the city council. An ordinance allowing about 12 dispensaries was then enacted by the city council.[3][4]
Background
According to a staff report released by the city in early 2015, some of the city's 20 to 40 operating dispensaries had paid their taxes.[2]
Timetable
- November 8, 2011: City voters approved medical marijuana taxes according to Measure C.
- April 2013: The Vallejo City Council voted to enact a year-long moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs) to clarify and re-articulate to the public that MMDs did not constitute a legal land use.
- April 2014: Council members extended the moratorium through April 2015.
- January 13, 2015: The city council voted five against two to devote resources to shutting down unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and directed staff to refuse tax payments from MMDs and cease to issue or renew business licenses for marijuana related businesses. The city council also voted to have city staff develop a regulatory ordinance which would allow a limited number of regulated dispensaries.[2][5]
- March 2015: The city released for public comment a draft of a proposed ordinance that would allow the operation of just two MMDs within the city.[6]
- April 16, 2015: The second initiative seeking to allow MMDs was submitted to the city.
- April 28, 2015: The city council rejected the tax payments of 11 dispensaries that tried to pay Measure C taxes in protest of the council's ban on MMDs.[7]
- May 2015: The city requested declaratory relief from the courts to decide the legality of both initiatives.
- May 26, 2015: The city adopted a regulatory ordinance allowing the operation of four medical marijuana dispensaries.[3]
- May 27, 2015: Opponents of the city's ordinance request an official copy of the ordinance be delivered to them by this date, intending a referendum petition drive against it.
- June 9, 2015: MMD advocates served "intent to recall" papers to mayor, vice mayor and two council members.
- June 24, 2015: City officials opened up the application process to MMD owners that want to try to claim one of the four dispensaries allowed by the city's ordinance.
- June 25, 2015: Referendum petitioners submitted signatures for a veto referendum effort against the city's ordinance.
- June 26, 2015: City officials halted the application process for MMDs to wait until signature verification for the referendum is complete.
- July 21, 2015: Facing a certified referendum measure, the city council members rescinded their ordinance themselves, precluding the necessity of a referendum election.
- July 28, 2015: The city council enacted another medical marijuana ordinance that was designed to allow about 12 dispensaries to operate within the city.
Legality and Measure C tax issues
The city of Vallejo had not allowed medical marijuana dispensaries as legal land uses prior to 2015. Taxes were collected, however, from certain dispensaries. In other words, according to the city's zoning laws, MMDs had never legally operated within the city. However, under the city's ordinance enacted on May 26, 2015, four MMDs were set to be able to operate legally. The four MMDs had not been selected as of January 2015. City officials had a goal of selecting those applying for the four spots by July or August 2015. However, the existing unregulated dispensaries threatened a referendum against the city's ordinance and began a recall effort against some of the council members.[8]
In 2011, about 76.51 percent of city voters approved Measure C, authorizing the city to impose a 10 percent tax on the gross receipts of marijuana dispensaries, with a base tax of $500. Measure C did not legalize or regulate the operation of MMDs.[8]
This left the city collecting taxes from illegal operations and prompted the city's community and economic development director, city attorney, and planning manager to recommend the city council to take one of two steps:[8]
1. Allow and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries; or
2. Expressly and specifically prohibit MMDs and clarify this prohibition to the public.
When Measure C was approved in 2011, the city did not dedicate resources to enforcing the zoning laws that precluded MMDs. Starting in April 2013, the city approved a series of year-long moratoriums clarifying that MMDs were not legal land uses. In January 2015, citing what it called a surge in MMD activity, the city took active steps to shut down the dispensaries operating within the city. Beginning on January 13, 2015, city officials directed staff to turn away any MMD owners seeking to make tax payments and to refuse to issue or renew business licenses for any marijuana-related business. On February 15, 2015, and again in April 2015, the city refused to accept submitted tax payments from dispensaries in order to remain consistent with the policy.[5][8]
For more details about the background of this measure, click here.
Declaratory relief
According to legal documents filed in March 2015, the city contended that the first of two initiatives sponsored by MMD supporters seeking to authorize the operation of more dispensaries was “facially invalid on both constitutional and statutory grounds, and if garnered sufficient signatures and the voters approved it, would prevent its enforcement.”[1]
Attorneys representing the city also based an argument on the state law that makes it illegal for any local initiative to “name or identify any private corporation to perform any function or to have any power or duty,” arguing that the first pro-marijuana initiative was designed to give MMDs the power to operate in the face of federal and local law. The lawsuit also focused on the initiative's effect on local variance law. Finally, the city's lawsuit also claimed the initiative breaks state law by “(singling) out certain parcels of land for special benefit.”[1]
The city also filed a request for a declaratory relief judgment from the court concerning the legality of the second initiative filed by MMD supporters.[1]
Measure C Eleven, the group consisting of the 11 MMDs who alleged that they were in compliance with registration and required taxation, insisted a ballot title and summary be provided for the latest initiative so that the group could begin collecting signatures. Referring to the city's legal request to reject the initiatives, James Anthony, an attorney representing Measure C Eleven, said, “Such blatant disregard for democratic process, undermining the rights of voters, smacks of Jim Crow tactics for denying minorities the vote. You are better than this. Debate the issues with us (and) disagree with us. But do not cheat and violate the law. That simply violates the whole civil relationship of trust in law and order and the democratic process.”[1]
City's ordinance
In March 2015, the city released a draft of a proposed city ordinance that would allow the operation of two MMDs within the city. The ordinance was presented to the public to allow for input and feedback. After public input and some amendments, the city adopted a final draft of the regulatory ordinance allowing the operation of four medical marijuana dispensaries on May 26, 2015. The ordinance was immediately targeted by this referendum effort.[6]
Support
The group Measure C Eleven, which represented some of the existing MMDs in the city, and other advocates of medical marijuana dispensaries led the effort to place these initiatives on the ballot.[1]
Supporters of the operating MMDs stated that allowing legal, registered marijuana dispensaries would discourage black-market drug sales and provide the city with additional tax revenue.[2]
During the city council meeting at which the city voted to close down all MMDs in the city, Vallejo resident Jack Davis said, “I have heart failure, Grave’s disease, diabetes ... I have asthma and six herniated disc [sic] in my back and marijuana has saved my life. I’m just asking for the right to live, as everyone here.”[2]
Opposition
The city council voted to close down all MMDs in the city in January 2015. City officials cited the fact that MMDs were not legal in the city because its zoning ordinances did not allow "medical marijuana dispensary" as a use, and none of the operating MMDs had petitioned for a zoning code amendment or a variance. The city approved its own ordinance in May 2015, allowing up to four MMDs to operate in the city. The city planned to issue operating permits beginning in August 2015. City officials argued that the two initiatives proposed by MMD supporters were poorly written, were illegal on several counts, and did not restrict or regulate the medical marijuana industry adequately.[3]
Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Ramona Bishop supported the city's policies, pointing to the use of marijuana by minors and students. Bishop reported that, from seventh grade through eleventh grade, self-reporting students who claimed they had never tried marijuana dropped from 83 percent to 41 percent. Bishop said, “When I talk with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, it is the case that they are concerned. In many cases, they don’t know where the drugs are coming from; we deal with it at in [sic] our high schools on a regular basis.”[2]
A grand jury report released in 2013 was critical of the Vallejo City Unified School District, stating that marijuana use was the major problem on campus among teens in Vallejo.[9][10]
Path to the ballot
These initiatives were proposed through the citizen ballot initiative signature petition process.
Related measures
Similar 2015 measures
- City of Riverside Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Initiative, Measure A (June 2015)
- Town of Yucca Valley Medical Marijuana Dispensary Authorization and Regulation Act, Measure X (June 2015)
- Mendocino County “Mendocino Cannabis Commission” Initiative (November 2015)
- City of Vallejo Veto Referendum Targeting City Council Medical Marijuana Ordinance (2015)
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Vallejo marijuana dispensaries initiative. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
Other elections
See also
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External links
- Solano County Elections Office website
- Save Measure C website
- Full text of the city's MMD ordinance approved on May 26, 2015
Additional reading
- Times Herald, "Vallejo’s medical marijuana dispensaries will attempt to pay Measure C taxes," February 18, 2015
- Times Herald Online, "Jeff Carlson: Council tramples proud Vallejo tradition," January 19, 2015
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Times Herald, "Vallejo asks court to step in regarding MMD ballot initiatives," May 4, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Times Herald, "Council orders all medical marijuana dispensaries closed," January 14, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kron 4 News, "Vallejo Approves Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance," May 29, 2015
- ↑ KRON 4, "Vallejo adopts new medical marijuana ordinance," July 31, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Times Herald, "Vallejo’s medical marijuana dispensaries turned away from paying Measure C taxes," February 19, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Times Herald, "Proposed medical marijuana dispensary ordinance released on Vallejo’s Open City Hall forum," March 14, 2015
- ↑ East Bay Express, "Vallejo City Leaders Defy Constituents on Medical Cannabis Taxes," April 30, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Vallejo City Government, "Council Meeting Agenda," January 13, 2015
- ↑ Solano Courts, "Safety At Vallejo High School," accessed June 18, 2015
- ↑ Times Herald, "Grand jury report raises concerns about Vallejo High School safety," May 16, 2013
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