Price/Mungo/Supernaw Attempt To Counter/Derail Petition-Initiative Medpot Measure Flops; If Voter Sigs Suffice, Council Can OK Costly Citywide Election OR Approve Petition-Initiated Medpot Measure Without Costly Election/Voter Choice

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City Mgm't and Police Chief have previously warned resuming medpot operations will mean increased staff/police costs; measure's proponents say their measure includes tax to help pay for it

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(June 22, 2016) -- Long Beach taxpayers will now likely either have to pay the cost of a November special citywide election to decide whether to let medical marijuana operations resume in Long Beach at a level not previously allowed here, OR a Council majority could avoid the election cost and the voters' choice but approving the petition initiated measure text outright.

[June 23 clarifier: a November 2016 LB citywide election would be a "special election" in the sense that there are no LB city offices or other LB measures scheduled for a citywide vote in November. If a LB election were called for the medical marijuana initiative ballot measure, it would be consolidated with the County/CA presidential November election; it wouldn't require an election out of the blue on a separate date, but there would be some LB taxpayer cost associated with consolidating a citywide LB vote on the marijuana initiative item in November, if the Council chooses to do so.]

City management and LBPD's police chief have previously indicated that letting medpot operations resume will mean increased city staff and police costs...which initiative supporters say will be offset by a 6% tax on medpot operations included in their measure.

[Scroll down for further.]

Those outcomes -- combined with a November statewide ballot measure on whether to allow (as in Colorado) marijuana use for recretional purposes -- come as LB medpot supporters collected roughly 35,000 petition initiative petition signatures. the City Clerk is now evaluating the signatures for sufficiency.

Within days of medpot supporters submitting their petition initiative signatures, Councilmembers Suzie Price, Stacy Mungo and Daryl Supernaw agendized a June 21 item that proposed a competing ballot measure that would allow delivery-only medpot perations...and when the item reached the Council floor, Price ultimately made a substitute-substitute motion to seek a delay to July 5 for a City Attorney report (including on the impacts of the Nov. 2016 statewide measure that could allow recreational marijuana use). Mayor Garcia was absent for the entire Council meeting; Vice Mayor Lowenthal presided.

The agendized item drew an embittered response from Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal along with less intense but bluntly stated displeasure from Councilman Rex Richardson. Without mentioning Price by name, Lowenthal said "fear mongering" had led to defeat of previous Council efforts to allow some LB medical marijuana operations, calling opposition actions now "disrespectful" of the public; Richardson called the June 21 agendized item "political grandstanding" that he didn't appreciate. Public speakers in opposition to the Price proposed action included Diana Lejins (a longtime advocate of marijuana for medicinal purposes) who argued that since Price is an OC Deputy DA (and the OC DA prosecutes marijuana cases), Price has a conflicting interest that should prompt her to recuse herself on the Council action.

Price's substitute-substitute motion went down to defeat 2-6 (Price and Mungo dissenting, Austin absent) with both Supernaw and Mungo joining the rest of the Council in voting to "receive and file" (motion by Uranga) Price's substitute-substitute (leaving Price alone in dissent 7-1, Austin absent).

Depending on the outcome of the City Clerk's signature verification process, the City now has two options: (1) put the petition-initiative measure on the ballot for a citywide November election tax taxpayer cost, with or without a City Hall report on the measure's impacts, with voters making the choice; OR (2) the Council could adopt the initiative measure outright, saving the cost of an election but with a Council majority, not voters, making the choice on whether to approve the measure.

In 2015, LB City Manager Pat West and LBPD Police Chief Robert Luna both publicly advised/cautioned/warned of fiscal costs and public safety resource issues if the Council were to lift LB's current ban and enact a new LB medpot ordinance. On December 8, Price cited the additional costs and resources and argued in favor of allowing "delivery only" operations while leaving a decision on resuming "storefront" operations for future Council action. Price's Dec. 2015 proposal narrowly passed 5-4 (Yes: Gonzalez, Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Austin; No: Lowenthal, Andrews, Uranga, Richardson) but when it returned to the Council for enacting votes, Councilman Richardson made a motion to "receive and file" it (take no action), seconded by Lowenthal, supported by Uranga, leaving LB's current ban on medical marijuana oiperations in place.

A few months ago, Price called the Council outcome (taking no action and letting LB's ban continue) "music to her ears"...but as a practical matter the action invited medpot supporters to do what they'd said they were prepared to do: mount a petition-initiative drive for a more sweeping ordinance...which they did.

Meanwhile, in early September 2015, the state legislature passed and Governor Brown signed into law legislation creating the "Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act" that creates a comprehensive statewide regulatory framework for cultivating, testing, distributing and taxing transactions involving medical cannabis and its related products. The statewide ordinance gives cities the choice of whether to ban or allow medical marijuana outlets within their city limits. A number of cities disallowed the operations.

Although a number of CA cities (including most OC cities) banned medpot operations years ago, Long Beach's Council majority (like L.A.'s City Council) chose to enact ordinances that sought to regulate medpot operations. Then-Councilman (later Vice Mayor, now Mayor) Robert Garcia, and Councilwoman (now Vice Mayor) Suja Lowenthal were among Councilmembers urging Council enactment of a LB medical marijuana regulatory ordinance (with Garcia saying he supports "safe access.") Their position prevailed with a Council majority; an initial Long Beach Council ordinance ultimately consumed sizable taxpayer costs and city staff resources; and an appellate court ultimately struck it down.

The Council (on then-City Attorney Bob Shannon's advice) enacted a ban on medpot operations until the CA Supreme Court ruled on what cities could and couldn't do. When the CA Supreme Court did so and ruled that cities can decide whether to ban or allow medical marijuana operations within their borders, the LB Council created a citizen "task force" to discuss and make recommendations on what LB should do. The "task force" held multiple meetings to discuss the issue; some medpot supporters criticized its proceedings as a "task farce"; the task force ultimately offered recommendations to the Council...and the Council ultimately went its own way.

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." Such action would involve legislative action in Congress.