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Council Votes To Prepare November Ballot Measure That Would Tax Sales, Facilities On Long Beach Medpot Operations (If LB Voters Also Approve Petition-Initiated Proposed Medpot Ordinance)

Council's MJ Tax measure text will return for Council vote prior to August 2


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(July 19, 2016) -- At its July 19 meeting, the Long Beach City Council voted 9-0 to direct the City Attorney to prepare for Council-approval on August 2 materials to put a measure on the November 2016 that would that would tax Long Beach marijuana sales and facilities if LB voters approve petition-initiated measure to let medpot operations resume in Long Beach and/or if CA voters approve a measure to allow recreational use of marijuana statewide.

The item as agendized by Councilmembers Richardson, Gonzalez and Mungo provided no details of the tax prior to the Council meeting; Councilman Richardson revealed his proposed details (reading from prepared text) on the Council floor as follows.

[Scroll down for further.]


  • 1. Establishes a gross receipts tax of 6% on medical marijuana dispensaries and delegates authority to increase that tax to 8% by a majority vote of the City Council
  • 2. Establishes a gross receipts tax of 8% on the non-medical sale of medical marijuana for adult use and delegates authority to increase that tax to 12% by a majority vote of the City Council.

    3. Establishes a gross receipts tax of 6% on any business located in Long Beach that engages in the manufacture, testing, processing, distributing, packaging or labeling of marijuana or marijuana-containing products, medical or non-medical, for wholesale to other retail marijuana businesses that sell those products to customers and delegates authority to increase that tax to a maximum rate of 8% by a majority vote of the City Council. If such a business conducts retail sales, the gross receipts tax identified above on retail sales in Long Beach will apply in lieu of the tax in this section.

  • Establish a tax of $12 per square foot of space dedicated to the cultivation of marijuana over the canopy area and delegates authority to increase that tax to a maximum rate of $15 per square foot by a majority vote of the City Council
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Diana Lejins, a consistent supporter of enabling local access to medical marijuana, criticized the Council's move to try and tax LB medical marijuana operations, noting the LB taxes would come on top of L.A. County and CA marijuana related taxes. Retired Councilwoman Tonia Reyes-Uranga said it was her preference that the Council not tax medical marijuana at all and only tax recreational marijuana use.

Councilwoman Suzie Price made a friendly amendment to include a resolution expressing the Council's intent to use the marijuana tax money for cost recovery of police operatiuons associated with medical marijuana enforcement, saying it would likely involve curtailing illegal operations. City Attorney Parkin noted that the marijuana taxes proposed would be a general taxes with revenue going to the general fund, and if the Council wanted the revenue used for specific purposes, it could make it a special tax that would require a 2/3 vote...but the Council could adopt a non-binding resolution expressing the Council's intent on how it would spent the tax revenue. Price's friendly amendment was included, and Mayor Garcia noted that this would be similar to what the Council did in adopting a non-binding resolution of its "intent" with the Measure A sales tax increase.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, LB Police Chief Robert Luna has cautioned against letting LB's now-shuttered medical marijuana outlets reopen based on LBPD's previous medpot-outlet experiences that required allocating LBPD resources...and has said that if medical marijuana outlets are allowed to reopen, LBPD will need additional resources. LB city management has also previously informed the Council of sizable staff (taxpayer) costs incurred in trying to administer LB's previous Council-adopted (ultimately court-invalidated) medpot ordinance.

Unmentioned at the Council meeting: there will almost certainly be taxpayer costs at some level associated with adding a measure(s) to the November ballot The City Clerk informed the Council (agendized memo July 12) that the estimated LB taxpayer cost for putting the Mayor-Council desired sales tax increase (Measures A and B) on the June ballot was $603,000.

LB taxpayers will also be paying the cost of a November citywide election on the petition-initiated LB medical marijuana ballot measure, consolidated with the November countywide/statewide election.

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Marijuana remains a designated [by Congress] as a federal Class 1 controlled drug...although the Obama administration's Justice Dept. has said it won't enforce some federal laws as long as they're consistent with state medical marijuana provisions and meet other DOJ requirements.

A previous LB City Council voted years ago to add a section to the City's federal legislative agenda [policies the City is supposed to be supporting/advocating] to "Support legislation to classify medical marijuana as a recognized pharmaceutical medication dispensed through pharmacies." It's unclear to what extent, if at all, the City and its DC lobbying efforts have done so or prioritized this.

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