Legal Update: Effective January 1, 2024, all cities and counties in California may impose immediate fines against all unlawful cannabis activities. *Legal Notice: This New Law Requires a New Ordinance! Prior to 2024, most administrative fines required municipalities to give a grace period to the violator to cure the underlying violation and avoid the fine. A notable exception was made for unlawful cannabis “cultivation” activities—in which case municipalities could immediately impose administrative fines. That exception was for “cultivation” violations only, which omitted all other unlawful cannabis activity, such as manufacturing, processing, distribution, and retail sale of cannabis. Those activities still required cities and counties to give the violators a grace period to cure the violations and avoid the fines, which often made the administrative fine penalty completely ineffective. AB 1684 has amended the Government Code to allow for the immediate imposition of administrative fines for all unlawful cultivation, manufacturing, processing, distribution, and retail sale of cannabis. AB 1684 allows for up to a $1,000 fine per cannabis violation,...
