California
Cheech and Chong Sue California Over Emergency Ban on Hemp Products Containing Any Detectable Level of THC
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Public Health over an emergency regulation on hemp products that include any detectable levels of THC. The pair argues that outlawing the psychoactive cannabinoid/compound found in cannabis and cannabis products would be like suddenly banning the inclusion of sugar in candy.
“Inaction over the last three years hardly serves as a sufficient basis for declaring a sudden emergency and circumventing the meticulous procedures of regular rulemaking,” Tuesday’s filing states. “It’s akin to requiring candy to stop containing sugar … starting tomorrow.”
The comedy duo’s dispute comes after the full ban, which was proposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, went into effect on Monday less than three weeks after he pitched it on a temporary status on Sept. 6.
For the record — for anyone wondering why hemp is the issue at hand versus marijuana, the two names are just different terms for the same flowering plant that exist in the Cannabaceae family, per Healthline. However, in the court of law, the pair is dealt with differently, as their differences lie within their levels of THC. Hemp is used to describe cannabis that contains 0.3% or less THC by dry weight, while marijuana or weed is defined as any cannabis that has more than 0.3% of THC by dry weight.
In the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by TheWrap, several leaders in the hemp and cannabis industry, including Juicetiva, Blaze Life and Boldt Runners, join Cheech and Chong in questioning the state’s decision. The businesses state that the ban’s rules are based on a flawed claim of an “emergency” and the state’s move is actually just the result of legislators failing to execute hemp regulations that were proposed in California’s legislature AB 45, which was signed into law on Oct. 6, 2021.
“In 2021, California’s legislature passed AB 45 to deal with a wide range of matters relating to the regulation of hemp products in California,” the lawsuit reads. “While adopting a details definition of ‘industrial hemp products,’ ‘hemp products’ and ‘THC or comparable cannabinoids,’ AB 45 did not distinguish between intoxicating and non-intoxicating cannabinoids.” It added that AB 45, which is “now codified in various sections of the California Health & Safety Code,” also addressed the manufacture, warehousing, distribution, offering, advertisement and sale of hemp products.
With that, the lawsuit goes on to say that AB 45’s broad overview can’t realistically cover “a number of practical details” and as a result, AB 45 ultimately allowed California’s Department of Public Health to “promulgate regulations necessary to administer the California Health & Safety Code provisions, its restrictions, limitations and other specifics related to the sale of hemp.” But as part of those regulations, the suit states, there should be a procedure put in place that ensures those rules are “both authorized and appropriate.” The group says that despite California having “nearly three years” to address the issue, it never did.
“At the core of the Department’s emergency regulations is a provision that goes far beyond the limits contemplated in AB 45 to ban all hemp products unless they contain no ‘detectable levels of THC.’ This draconian regulation will essentially devastate an emerging industry that consists largely of small business owners,” the suit states.
In conclusion, the docs state that the department “has acted entirely outside the boundaries of California’s applicable law” to adopt and issue them, adding that the ban will end with cannabis companies suffering “losses in the millions of dollars over existing products, pending manufacturing and future sales of hemp and hemp products that legally contained THC, as per existing California and federal law, but have now been banned overnight by the emergency regulations.”
Marin and Chong plan to move forward by filing a separate petition for a temporary restraining order, which seeks to block the THC ban while the state sorts and outlines its procedures within AB 45.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this reporting.
The post Cheech and Chong Sue California Over Emergency Ban on Hemp Products Containing Any Detectable Level of THC appeared first on TheWrap.
California
California GOP delegates on LGBT issues, LA decline, Medicaid fraud | Fox News Video
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana join Trace Gallagher to discuss multiple issues impacting California.
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana dissect the state’s pressing issues with Trace Gallagher. They criticize the SF Giants’ ‘Pride Night’ controversy and players’ right to religious expression. The delegates also discuss Los Angeles’s economic decline and Sacramento’s expensive homeless campsite, highlighting concerns about over-regulation and social issues. They conclude by addressing California’s large-scale Medicaid fraud, suggesting a lack of accountability.
California
California Central Valley city’s first-ever Pride event moves indoors after pushback
Oakdale’s first Pride event is moving forward this weekend after organizers changed venues following pushback over its original location and a planned drag performance.
Some residents pushed back over the event’s original location at Dorada Park and a planned drag performance.
“I also understand staff has issued a permit for a so-called Pride event,” one speaker said during the latest City Council meeting.
Another speaker raised concerns about the event being advertised as open to all ages, including children, and having a drag queen host.
After the public pushback, organizers moved the event indoors to the Bianchi Center.
“It was a huge upgrade to be able to provide a more accessible space in the heart of Oakdale,” said Ryan Hall, president of CalPride.
Hall said the idea to bring Pride to the city did not come from outside Oakdale, it came from people living there.
“That’s my place as a mom of rainbow kids, absolutely,” said Elizabeth May, owner of Sisters Coffee.
May’s coffee shop hosts a monthly LGBTQ+ social.
“I had a young man walk in here and say, ‘We don’t have anywhere to have a social here for LGBTQ.’ I said, ‘Heck yes,’” May said.
Still, the backlash has left parents like May concerned.
“How does it feel? Scary. I’m excited, but as a mom of a kid in the community, I’m nervous for them,” May said.
May said the venue change helped ease some of the tension.
“The different venue made a win-win situation for everyone. I was very proud of the kids for making that hard decision,” May said.
For organizers, the drag performance is part of the celebration.
“Enjoy some line dancing, enjoy some live music, enjoy the drag show, and then also enjoy community members and our local businesses, our local artists and partner organizations,” Hall said.
Oakdale Pride is scheduled for Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Entry is free.
California
Newsom urges a national ‘billionaires’ tax’ while fighting one in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is considering a run for president as he approaches the end of his term, called for a national “billionaires’ tax” on Friday even as he fights another proposal targeting the wealthy in his home state.
Newsom also said the U.S. government should own a stake in artificial intelligence companies. His proposals, outlined in a Substack post, aligns him with the Democratic Party’s populist left, and he argued that urgent changes are needed to prevent the elite concentration of wealth and power from undermining democracy.
“It’s time for an economic reset for America,” Newsom wrote.
The governor announced his agenda a day after an influential health care union in California pledged to go forward with a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.
Newsom opposes that measure, as do many of the liberal interest groups that typically favor higher taxes. They fear it would drive billionaires out of California, eroding the state’s tax base over the long term for a one-time influx of cash. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom wrote. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
A minimum tax on large net worths
Newsom said the solution is a new national tax policy, rather than a state-by-state system. He proposed a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100 million. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against their stock portfolios to fund their luxury lifestyles tax free.
Newsom said there should be new rules for inheritance taxes, warning that “the transfer of wealth among the ultra-wealthy will lock in a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth.” And he wants to raise corporate tax rates to where they were before President Donald Trump’s first-term tax cut.
READ MORE: Sanders and Newsom clash over proposed tax on California’s billionaires
The need is especially urgent as artificial intelligence threatens to displace workers and further concentrate wealth, he wrote.
“We need to ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI through a national public equity fund that takes a major stake in the new economy,” he wrote. “Simply, as artificial intelligence reshapes the country, every American should own a piece of the future it builds.”
Revenue generated by his proposals could be used to retrain workers, fund universal child care, make college free and increase funding for health care.
‘Money buys influence’
Newsom, who has drawn attention as one of Trump’s most high-profile political antagonists, is getting an early start on laying out a policy framework for his potential White House bid months before the midterm elections, which have typically marked the informal start of overt presidential campaigning.
WATCH: News Wrap: Newsom says Trump ordering DOJ to investigate him and wife
The embrace of a wealth tax by Newsom, a moderate on tax policy despite his liberal reputation, signals a notable shift in the political landscape since Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren struggled to get traction in her 2020 campaign, which she largely centered around a 2% levy wealth tax.
Newsom portrayed the nation’s tax code as a corrupt system built to help an elite few.
“Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules,” he wrote. “Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle.”
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