Cannabis Practitioners Group

Interested in receiving content and communications from the Cannabis Practitioners Group?

Cannabis Practitioners Group Officers

Shay Aaron Gilmore, Chair

Whitney Hodges, Vice Chair

William Tolin Gay, Secretary

Cannabis Practitioners Group Mission Statement

The Cannabis Practitioners Group (CPG) of the California Lawyers Association is a CLA-wide group of voluntary attorneys who currently – or would like to – practice law in service of the cannabis industry and movement in California. The mission of the CPG is to:

Provide legal education on cannabis law issues to California lawyers who are not already practicing in this area.
Develop networking opportunities among current cannabis law practitioners and other attorneys and professionals whose work may cross-over with cannabis law issues.
Support California law students and newer attorneys who are interested in practicing law within the cannabis industry and movement in California.
Articulate policy positions of California lawyers on legislative and regulatory issues impacting the cannabis industry and movement.

Upcoming Events

California Legislation 2025

The 2025 California Legislative Session convened on January 6, 2025, and it will adjourn on September 13, 2025.

BILL NO.	SUMMARY	STATUS
AB 564 (Haney)	To retain the existing cannabis excise tax rate of 15% of the gross receipts of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer.	05/08/25 Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
AB 632 (Hart)	To streamline the process for a local agency to obtain a court judgment for payment of fine and penalties for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, and to establish a procedure to collect administrative fines or penalties by lien upon the parcel of land on which the unlicensed commercial cannabis activity occurred.	05/08/25 Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
SB 378 (Wiener)	To make online cannabis and hemp marketplaces strictly liable for damages; to require online sellers to create a reporting system enabling people to flag an unlicensed product or seller; and to require marketplaces that don’t verify California cannabis seller licenses to post a disclaimer.	05/06/25 Set for hearing May 12.
AB 8 (Aguiar-Curry)	To authorize DCC licensees to manufacture, distribute, or sell products that contain industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp, and to require out-of-state hemp manufacturers who produce an industrial hemp product that is a food or beverage for sale in this state to register with the DCC.	05/06/25 Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
SB 501 (Allen)	To create a producer responsibility program to require a producer responsibility organization (PRO) to ensure the safe and convenient collection and management of covered products, including electronic cigarettes and vape pens, and to require the PRO to submit a producer responsibility plan to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and to implement its plan within 90 days of approval.	05/05/25 May 5 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
AB 1496 (Rubio)	To reinstate the task force on state and local regulation of commercial cannabis activity, which was repealed on January 1, 2025, and to expand the task force to include representatives from tribal governmental entities regulating commercial cannabis activity.	05/01/25 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
AB 998 (Hadwick)	To make a vape pen confiscated by a school as contraband presumed to have been generated by a household and presumed to be household hazardous waste when properly managed and disposed of at a household hazardous waste collection facility or through a household hazardous waste collection program, and to prohibit a public agency from including vape pens in a materials exchange program at a household hazardous waste collection facility to make reusable household hazardous products or materials available to recipients, as a part of its household hazardous waste collection program.	04/30/25 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
AB 1027 (Sharp-Collins)	To allow the DCC stronger regulatory oversight on the testing of cannabis products in a number of ways, including off-the-shelf laboratory testing of cannabis products available for retail sale, subjecting testing laboratories to blind proficiency testing, mandatory Certificate of Analysis (COA) disclosure and upload of COA to the California Cannabis Track-and-Trace (CCTT) system, embargo procedures for non-compliant products, Quality Assurance (QA) review recording by distributors of each cannabis batch in the CCTT system, random QA reviews at licensed premises to ensure compliance with labeling, packaging, and testing standards, and updated retesting and sampling authority.	04/29/25 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
AB 762 (Irwin and Wilson)	To prohibit, beginning January 1, 2026, a person from selling, distributing, or offering for sale a new or refurbished disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device in this state.	04/29/25 In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
AB 1332 (Ahrens)	To authorize a licensed microbusiness with an M-license whose licensed activities include retail sale, distribution, and outdoor cultivation to directly ship medicinal cannabis to a medicinal cannabis patient in the state, and to authorize free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products provided to medicinal cannabis patients in compliance with MAUCRSA to be shipped to those patients by a licensed microbusiness with an M-license.	04/29/25 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
SB 479 (Arreguin)	To state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to cannabis.	04/28/25 April 28 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
AB 1065 (Ortega)	To require that the calculation of interchange fees charged by a issuer, a payment card network, an acquirer bank, or a processor not take into account gratuity or certain state taxes, including the cannabis excise tax.	04/22/25 Re-referred to Com. on B. & F.
AB 1209 (Rodriguez)	To require an employer that is licensed under MAUCRSA annually to provide proof that it has secured payment of workers’ compensation to the administrative director, and to require the administrative director to provide assistance to any employer that notifies the administrative director that it has insufficient workers’ compensation coverage or has been unable to obtain coverage.	04/21/25 Re-referred to Com. on B. & P; In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
AB 1397 (Flora)	To authorize a hemp manufacturer to produce and sell low-dose hemp drinks, and to impose a low-dose hemp drink excise tax upon purchasers of low-dose hemp drinks sold in the state at 10% of the gross receipts of any retail sale of low-dose hemp drinks, and to require the tax, and interest, penalties, and other amounts collected and paid to the department pursuant to the tax, to be deposited into the Low-Dose Hemp Drink Excise Tax Fund, which the bill would establish.	04/10/25 In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
AB 686 (Berman)	To add DCC chief deputy director, deputy director of equity and inclusion, deputy director of legal affairs and chief counsel to the DCC to the list of individuals prohibited from engaging in certain activities, including from receiving any commission or profit whatsoever, directly or indirectly, from any person applying for or receiving any license or permit.	04/01/25 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

California Regulations

California Regulator	Regulations & Guidance
Department of Cannabis Control	Commercial Cannabis Regulations Disciplinary Guidelines (Jul. 2022)
CDFA OCal Cannabis Certification Program	OCal Regulations (Jul. 2021)
CDFA California Industrial Hemp Program	Industrial Hemp Law & Regulations (Dec. 2024)
CDFA Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability	Cannabis Appellations Program
Department of Fish and Wildlife Cannabis Program	Laws & Regulations
Department of Pesticide Regulation	Cannabis Cultivation
State Water Resources Control Board	Cannabis Cultivation Program
Department of Tax and Fee Administration	Tax Guide for Cannabis Businesses
Cannabis Control Appeals Panel	Laws and Regulations

California Case Law

Court	Case
California Court of Appeal, 4th District	Murphy v. AAA Auto Insurance of Southern California (Jan. 24, 2025)
United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Thomas v. County of Humboldt (Dec. 30, 2024)
California Court of Appeal, 3rd District	Sacramento Municipal Utility District v. David Kwan (Apr. 30, 2024)
California Court of Appeal, 1st District	Apex Solutions v. Falls Lake Insurance Management Co., Inc. (Apr. 16, 2024)
United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Peridot Tree, Inc. v. City of Sacramento (Mar. 4, 2024)

California Ethics Opinions

Bar Association	Ethics Opinion
State Bar of California	Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct Opinion Formal Opinion No. 2020-202 (May 2020)
Los Angeles County Bar Association	Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee Opinion No. 527 (Aug. 2015)
Bar Association of San Francisco	Ethics Committee Opinion No. 2015-1 (Jun. 2015)

Webinars and Other Resources

Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law

Business Law

Original Air Date: 4/27/2023
California Cannabis Social Equity Provisions and the Dormant Commerce Clause

Original Air Date: 11/8/2023
California Cannabis Corporate Law: Navigating the Way Forward

Civility in the Legal Profession

Original Date: January 22, 2025
Navigating Cannabis Law and Arbitration: Real-World Challenges

Competence

Criminal Law

Original Air Date: 8/5/2021
True Color of Marijuana – Stirring the Racial Justice Pot

Environmental Law

Original Air Date: 8/12/2021
The California Cannabis Rush: The Interplay Between Cannabis, Environmental Laws and Regulations

Family Law

Intellectual Property Law

Original Air Date: 10/10/20
Cannabis Intellectual Property Law Nuts & Bolts

Original Air Date: 11/9/2020
Shelter In Place Institute: Cannabis & IP Law Litigation 2020 Update

Original Air Date: 3/10/2020
Trademarks & Cannabis Law

Original Air Date: 1/29/2020
Introduction to IP & Cannabis Law

Original Air Date: 10/21/2020
Trade Secrets in Cannabis

Original Air Date: 11/10/2021
45th Annual IP Institute: Shifting Tokes — Cannabis-Related Patents in a Changing World

Original Air Date: 4/22/2021
Rolling with Patents: IP in Cannabis and Recent Cannabis Patent Litigation

Original Air Date: 7/1/2021
Summer Cannabis (Law) Series: Protecting Cannabis IP in an Uncertain Legal Landscape

Intellectual Property Cannabis Interest Group

Participate in the IP Property Cannabis Interest Group which offers frequent webinar presentations and community discussions of hot topics and practice tips.

The Interest Groups of the IP Section are open to all IP Section members interested in participating. The groups have regular meetings open to all members of the IP Section. They also present educational programs focused on the needs of various IP practices.

All of the interest groups send periodic e-mail bulletins to their members. As an IP Law Section member, you can sign up for the IP Cannabis Interest Group to receive notifications in all areas that interest you.

For more information, contact the Intellectual Property Law Section at IP@calawyers.org.

Announcements of meetings and CLE programs are included in Inevitable Disclosures, which is sent to all members of the Section.

Not a member of the IP Section and want to join the Interest Group? Join IP Section Here and then sign up for the Interest Group Here.