Cannabis Industry, Pull Up a Chair: A Message from CaCOA's Executive Director

When the California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA) officially launched in February 2025, a handful of dedicated operators came together around a shared belief: California’s legal cannabis industry deserves a strong, credible, and consistent voice in the State Capitol.

In a remarkably short period of time, CaCOA has grown into the largest (and, I would argue, the most influential) cannabis industry trade organization working in Sacramento.

That did not happen by accident.

It happened because our founding members and Board of Directors were willing to set aside individual differences, invest in our collective future, and do the work.

Over the past two years, CaCOA has been at the center of some of California’s most consequential cannabis policy debates. We helped lead the successful effort to roll back the cannabis excise tax from 19% to 15%. We helped advance legislation prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products operating outside the regulated supply chain. And when legislation threatened to ban all-in-one vapes, we successfully secured a carveout for the regulated cannabis industry.

This year, we are proudly sponsoring Assembly Bill 2537 (Chen), the Cannabis Enforcement Accountability and Public Health Prioritization Act of 2026, which would require the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to establish a transparent, risk-based enforcement policy focused on the conduct posing the greatest threat to public health, consumer safety, and the integrity of the regulated market.

We are also supporting AB 1826 (Lackey), which would establish critically important due-process protections when the DCC issues recalls and embargoes or orders the destruction of cannabis products.

Both bills reflect a fundamental principle underlying much of CaCOA’s work: accountability and public safety are essential, but so are transparency, proportionality, and basic fairness.

Our work extends far beyond legislation. CaCOA recently prepared extensive public comments on the DCC’s proposed Track and Trace Update regulations and Group Plant Tagging regulations, proposals that will directly affect the day-to-day operations of licensees throughout California.

Our comments were informed by the operational expertise and lived experience of our members, including those serving on CaCOA’s Policy Committee.

That is what an effective trade association does. We bring operators into the policymaking process before decisions are final. We translate operational realities into credible policy arguments. And when proposed requirements are unworkable, unnecessarily costly, or disconnected from how licensed businesses actually function, we say so, clearly, constructively, and with one voice.

But our influence cannot be taken for granted.

Next year, California will have a new governor and dozens of new legislators. Many will arrive in Sacramento with little understanding of the legal cannabis industry, its economic challenges, or the tremendous value it brings to communities across our state.

The work of education must continue.

Legislators come and go. Governors come and go. Regulators come and go. Our industry must remain, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that it does.

Remaining relevant requires vigilance. And vigilance requires capacity: the people, resources, relationships, and expertise necessary to make our collective voice heard.

That is how successful industries organize. Companies may compete in the marketplace, but they understand that there are moments when they must stand together in the State Capitol. The passage of last year’s cannabis tax rollback demonstrated what can happen when our industry is engaged and united behind a common objective.

I began working on cannabis policy as a chief of staff in the State Senate in 2012 and lobbying for the industry in 2014. At the time, it was neither a safe nor comfortable issue in the State Capitol. There were plenty of doors slammed in our faces.

But we kept showing up. We kept educating. We kept building credibility one meeting, one relationship, and one legislative victory at a time.

And I have learned the same lesson repeatedly: our greatest successes occur when we join together.

That is why I am extending two invitations.

• To operators who have not yet joined CaCOA: If you want a voice in the decisions that will shape the future of your business, we need you. If you want policymakers to understand the realities of operating in California’s regulated market, we need you. And if you believe this industry deserves laws and regulations that are fair, thoughtful, and grounded in the real world, we need you.

• To our existing members: I invite you to become even more engaged by joining CaCOA’s Policy Committee. The Committee serves as an advisory body to our Board of Directors and provides the operational knowledge that grounds our legislative, regulatory, and advocacy work. Your experience can directly inform the positions CaCOA takes and the solutions we advance in Sacramento.

We have built the foundation. The relationships are in place. The work is already underway.

The table is set. Pull up a chair.

That is where we do our greatest work.

In gratitude,

Amy O'Gorman Jenkins

Executive Director

California Cannabis Operators Association