NEWS & RESOURCES

California cannabis consumers and patients will start paying over 25% more in excise taxes on safe, regulated products on July 1st, pushing total tax burdens on legal cannabis to as high as 50% at retail locations across the state. 

Without immediate action by the California State Senate, the cannabis excise tax will automatically increase over 25% (from 15% to 19%) on July 1—a price hike for consumers that could be catastrophic for California’s regulated cannabis market.

Assembly Bill 8, co-sponsored by CaCOA and UFCW, provides comprehensive reforms to protect consumers and support California's legal cannabis industry by permanently banning intoxicating hemp products outside the regulated market, enhancing enforcement capabilities, requiring out-of-state manufacturers to register with California authorities, and creating pathways for legitimate businesses to work with industrial hemp within the regulated framework.

CaCOA submitted comprehensive feedback to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regarding their proposed industrial hemp regulations. Our comments focused on the critical need to establish clear definitions before addressing serving sizes and age restrictions for hemp products.

Assembly Bill 564 (Haney) prevents the scheduled excise tax increase by repealing the requirement for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to adjust the excise tax every two years, providing critical relief to struggling cannabis businesses, protecting jobs, keeping cannabis products more affordable, and helping stabilize tax revenues by keeping consumers in the legal market.