Cannabis Business Times: California Bill to Freeze Cannabis Excise Tax Breezes, 6-0, Through Another Committee

EXCERPT:

Testifying in support of the legislation this week, Amy Jenkins, the executive director of the California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA), said the licensed cannabis industry faces ongoing instability. The CaCOA represents roughly 300 licensed operators across the supply chain.

“It is in a crisis, and any suggestion that this crisis is overstated is a misrepresentation of the facts,” Jenkins said. “Whitney Economics, one of the leading national cannabis market analysts, slashed its five-year U.S. cannabis retail forecast by $21 billion. Why? Because states like California are losing market share due to high tax enforcement.”

Kristin Heidelbach, the legislative director at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western States Council, also testified in support of A.B. 564. The UFCW represents more than 5,000 unionized cannabis workers in California.

“We have been screaming that the British are coming for a while, but we now have a cannabis industry that’s competing with an unchecked hemp industry that does not pay the tax,” she said.

“We have an illicit underground industry that competes with them and doesn’t actually pay any of the fines and fees that aid in enforcement. And now we have a possible tax hike, an increase, which means that more and more people are going to lose their businesses, more jobs will be lost. This is not a tax decrease. This is simply a freeze. We’re just trying to fight another day.”

California led the nation with 12,600 cannabis jobs lost in 2023 and 5,000 cannabis jobs lost in 2024, according to industry employment agency Vangst.

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