You’ve probably noticed by now that we’re big fans of understanding the complexity of compliance and regulation within the plant-touching industry. And with our big fandom we understandably get a lot of questions. One topic we keep getting asked about –and that has a lot of misinformation around it: CEQA and cannabis permits in Los Angeles.
To help clear the air and better inform everyone who has asked us about CEQA, we’ve compiled a handy breakdown of what CEQA impacts, what it means for your business, and how we can help.
What does cannabis compliance have to do with CEQA?
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a law that requires state and local government agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of their actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible.
What does that mean in English please?
Before the city and state can issue a commercial cannabis permit, they have to figure out if issuing the permit will harm the environment and decide what steps they can take to protect mother nature from a newly permitted commercial cannabis business.
So, CEQA is basically an environmental protection law?
Yes. It helps keep California beautiful and the air in Los Angeles clean-ish.
How does this “CEQA”relate to my commercial cannabis application?
Well, California cannabis regulations provide that all applicants must provide evidence of exemption from, or compliance with CEQA. The state and local regulators want to make sure your project isn’t going to muck up the soil or kill off a kaleidoscope of endangered El Segundo blues.
Excuse me, a kaleid-a-what-a of endangered what-nows?
See our dominant art at the top of this post? That’s an El Segundo blue, a tiny and spectacularly colorful species of butterfly native to very small portions of Southern California. Like to munch on coastal buckwheat, too.
My friend owns a dispensary and he says his trade group told him the City of LA is exempt from CEQA. Is that true?
We aren’t big fancy city lawyers who provide legal advice, but we know a few who happen to work for the Bureau of Cannabis Control. They have said that applicants in the City of Los Angeles will have to show compliance with or exemption from CEQA as provided in the regulations. The Bureau says they love L.A., but applicants in Los Angeles have to follow the same rules as everyone else.
Oh jeez. CEQA sounds complicated. How do I show compliance with or exemption from CEQA?
To keep it simple, the regulators want to see that the local jurisdiction (City of L.A.) has performed a CEQA review as part of the licensing process. Applicants can show this by submitting the local permit to establish a CEQA review has occurred as part of the permitting process; or the actual city-issued CEQA documents that show findings for the applicant’s compliance with or exemption from CEQA.
Has the City of Los Angeles performed a CEQA analysis on my project?
We can’t say for certain, but probably not. The City of Los Angeles is behind schedule. In fact, the city has not even issued annual applications yet! We are not aware of the city performing CEQA review on any cannabis project. While the city may very well perform a CEQA analysis in the future as part of its discretionary review, the city has not commenced the discretionary review phase yet.
What about this CEQA exemption issued by the LA Department of Planning on September 14, 2017? My friend owns a dispensary and says this document “totally exempts us from CEQA.”
We don’t know this “friend” of yours, but what we do know is this: there is a lot of misinformation out there about CEQA. That CEQA exemption is for the passage of L.A.’s commercial cannabis ordinances. The exemption is limited to the passage of the ordinances. It does not exempt every project permitted under those ordinances. Your friend probably has not read the September 14, 2007 exemption.
Okay smart guy, since the City of L.A. has not performed a CEQA analysis, how am I supposed to show compliance or exemption in my state application?
The regulations provide if the city has not performed a CEQA analysis, then the applicant will be responsible for the preparation of an environmental document in compliance with CEQA that can be approved or certified by the Bureau, unless the Bureau specifies otherwise. In essence, the Bureau wants something that shows you are in compliance with or exempt from CEQA.
How can MMLG help me with my environmental document in compliance with CEQA?
We love the environment, El Segundo blues; and most importantly, we love compliance. But we aren’t environmental scientists and planners. That’s why we work closely with environmental scientists and planners who do know CEQA when we’re working to get our clients the right environmental documents necessary for the Bureau to approve their annual licenses.
Got another question?
If we missed something, or you just want to chat about El Segundo blues, send us an e-mail at: info@mmlg.com