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SACRAMENTO – California State Treasurer John Chiang and nine other members of a newly established, multi-state consortium of states with some form of legalized cannabis use on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seeking a meeting to resolve a conflict between federal and state law.
Consortium members – four state treasurers, cannabis industry representatives and other stakeholders – want to work with Sessions to create banking services and a safe business and legal environment for growers, distributors and sellers, and financial institutions in the 29 states where cannabis is legal for medical or adult recreational consumption.
“This is not just a blue state phenomenon but includes purple and red states in every corner of our country,” the letter’s authors wrote. “A majority of Americans now live in states where they have decided to legalize cannabis.”
California voters in 2016 approved an initiative to legalize cannabis use, beginning on January 1 of this year.
The need to communicate with Sessions is urgent since federal law conflicts with many state statutes by maintaining cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance akin to heroin and LSD. The dichotomy between federal and state law has made it difficult for cannabis firms to open bank accounts and forced them to deal in cash, creating a threat to public safety.
The letter’s signers said they are particularly concerned about Sessions’ rescission of the so-called Cole Memoranda, a directive issued by President Obama’s administration that spelled out the conditions that would allow for financial institutions to provide essential banking services to cannabis businesses operating in states where cannabis use had been legalized.
“We believe we can work together and achieve a solution that recognizes that more and more Americans are living in states where they have decided to legalize cannabis while balancing the important law enforcement issues the Cole Memos tried to account for,” the letter said.
Treasurer Chiang has been in the forefront of grappling with the problem of the lack of banking services for the nascent cannabis industry. He established an 18-member Cannabis Banking Working Group that held six public meetings around the state and heard from more than 50 experts.
The working group came up with a number of recommendations that were outlined in a report issued in November 2017. The recommendations include the creation of a multi-state consortium to advocate for changes in federal law to ensure that the cannabis industry and its customers operate safely, transparently and according to the will of the voters.
To read the letter click here.
Consortium members – four state treasurers, cannabis industry representatives and other stakeholders – want to work with Sessions to create banking services and a safe business and legal environment for growers, distributors and sellers, and financial institutions in the 29 states where cannabis is legal for medical or adult recreational consumption.
“This is not just a blue state phenomenon but includes purple and red states in every corner of our country,” the letter’s authors wrote. “A majority of Americans now live in states where they have decided to legalize cannabis.”
California voters in 2016 approved an initiative to legalize cannabis use, beginning on January 1 of this year.
The need to communicate with Sessions is urgent since federal law conflicts with many state statutes by maintaining cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance akin to heroin and LSD. The dichotomy between federal and state law has made it difficult for cannabis firms to open bank accounts and forced them to deal in cash, creating a threat to public safety.
The letter’s signers said they are particularly concerned about Sessions’ rescission of the so-called Cole Memoranda, a directive issued by President Obama’s administration that spelled out the conditions that would allow for financial institutions to provide essential banking services to cannabis businesses operating in states where cannabis use had been legalized.
“We believe we can work together and achieve a solution that recognizes that more and more Americans are living in states where they have decided to legalize cannabis while balancing the important law enforcement issues the Cole Memos tried to account for,” the letter said.
Treasurer Chiang has been in the forefront of grappling with the problem of the lack of banking services for the nascent cannabis industry. He established an 18-member Cannabis Banking Working Group that held six public meetings around the state and heard from more than 50 experts.
The working group came up with a number of recommendations that were outlined in a report issued in November 2017. The recommendations include the creation of a multi-state consortium to advocate for changes in federal law to ensure that the cannabis industry and its customers operate safely, transparently and according to the will of the voters.
To read the letter click here.
- Details
- Written by: State Treasurer's Office
Following the recommendation of state health agencies, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday that it has extended the area open to commercial rock crab fishing from the Sonoma/Mendocino County line (38° 46.1′ N. Lat., near Gualala, Mendocino County) south to the California/Mexico border.
At the recommendation of the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham submitted to the Office of Administrative Law an emergency rulemaking to close the commercial rock crab fishery north of Pigeon Point, San Mateo County on Nov. 8, 2016.
On Jan.1, 2017, new authority established in the Fish and Game Code, section 5523, allowed the director to continue the closure.
Updated recommendations received from OEHHA have resulted in the director opening parts of the commercial rock crab fishery north of the closure boundary near Pigeon Point.
The fishery was last modified in January 2018 when the fishery was opened between Bodega Bay and Salt Point, Sonoma County.
State and federal laws prohibit the commercial distribution of seafood products that contain domoic acid levels above the federal action level of 30 parts per million in the viscera.
The recreational fishery for rock crab remains open statewide with a warning from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to recreational anglers to avoid consuming the viscera of rock crab caught north of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the California/Oregon border.
Closure of the commercial rock crab fishery north of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the California/Oregon border shall remain in effect until the Director of OEHHA, in consultation with the Director of CDPH, determines that domoic acid levels no longer pose a significant risk to public health and recommends the fishery be opened.
CDFW will continue to coordinate with and the fishing community, CDPH and OEHHA to test domoic acid levels in rock crab within the closure area of the coast.
Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin that can accumulate in shellfish, other invertebrates and sometimes fish. It causes illness and sometimes death in a variety of birds and marine mammals that consume affected organisms.
At low levels, domoic acid exposure can cause nausea, diarrhea and dizziness in humans. At higher levels, it can cause persistent short-term memory loss, seizures and can in some cases be fatal.
At the recommendation of the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham submitted to the Office of Administrative Law an emergency rulemaking to close the commercial rock crab fishery north of Pigeon Point, San Mateo County on Nov. 8, 2016.
On Jan.1, 2017, new authority established in the Fish and Game Code, section 5523, allowed the director to continue the closure.
Updated recommendations received from OEHHA have resulted in the director opening parts of the commercial rock crab fishery north of the closure boundary near Pigeon Point.
The fishery was last modified in January 2018 when the fishery was opened between Bodega Bay and Salt Point, Sonoma County.
State and federal laws prohibit the commercial distribution of seafood products that contain domoic acid levels above the federal action level of 30 parts per million in the viscera.
The recreational fishery for rock crab remains open statewide with a warning from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to recreational anglers to avoid consuming the viscera of rock crab caught north of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the California/Oregon border.
Closure of the commercial rock crab fishery north of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the California/Oregon border shall remain in effect until the Director of OEHHA, in consultation with the Director of CDPH, determines that domoic acid levels no longer pose a significant risk to public health and recommends the fishery be opened.
CDFW will continue to coordinate with and the fishing community, CDPH and OEHHA to test domoic acid levels in rock crab within the closure area of the coast.
Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin that can accumulate in shellfish, other invertebrates and sometimes fish. It causes illness and sometimes death in a variety of birds and marine mammals that consume affected organisms.
At low levels, domoic acid exposure can cause nausea, diarrhea and dizziness in humans. At higher levels, it can cause persistent short-term memory loss, seizures and can in some cases be fatal.
- Details
- Written by: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
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