Members of the Long Beach Citizens’ and Patients’ Rights PAC just prior to submitting their 43,000+ signatures.
On Friday, medical-marijuana advocates submitted to the City of Long Beach the petition signatures necessary to force a special election on the question of allowing medpot dispensaries to operate within the city. The proposed measure requires dispensaries to pay a 4 percent sales tax to the City.
Since September 2012, the Long Beach Citizens’ and Patients’ Rights PAC (LBCPR) had been circulating a petition to “regulate and tax medical marijuana collectives,” a move that “would have the effect of repealing the City’s current ban on medical-marijuana collectives.” And at the end of last week, the group submitted to the City Clerk’s Office over 43,000 petition signatures—10,000 more than the number necessary to force a special election.
In 2010, 53 percent of residents voted in favor of Proposition 19, the failed statewide ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In that same election, over 73 percent of Long Beach residents voted in favor of Measure B, which would have taxed recreational marijuana had Proposition 19 passed. Considering Long Beach residents’ recent voting habits towards marijuana, it seems likely that, if brought to a vote, the LBCPR initiative would pass.
Additionally, 5th District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske conducted a November 2010 online survey that asked residents, “Would you support a ballot measure prohibiting ALL medical marijuana collectives in the City of Long Beach consistent with the cities of Lakewood and Signal Hill?” Approximately 65 percent of respondents answered “No.” But in February 2012, Schipske and the majority of her council cohort voted to ban dispensaries.
It is possible the courts will dispose of the City’s ban before the LBCPR initiative comes to a vote. For starters, several cases currently making their way through the courts, as well as a few court decisions already handed down, may end up invalidating the ban.[1]
But even if the courts do not get there first, there is the question of whether the City will let question come to a vote. According to City Clerk Larry Herrera, a special election on this single issue would cost the City between $1.2 million and $1.4 million. Considering the poll numbers suggesting the LBCPR initiative will pass, conceivably the council could do exactly what the Los Angeles City Council did when it was confronted with an identical dilemma: rescind the ban.
In August 2012, just one month after the City of Los Angeles banned dispensaries, medpot advocates submitted the necessary signatures to bring the question to a March 2013 vote. But rather than expend the money on a special election whose results seemed a fait accompli, in October Los Angeles councilmembers rescinded their ban.
“It’s an American thing, really, [that] you can take it to the people,” says Jeremy Coltharp, a management member of the Natural Solutions collective and the petitioner of record for the LBCPR ballot initiative. “If the people don’t like the laws that are being put in place, you can take it to the people.”
The City has 30 business days to verify the petition signatures submitted. Once the signatures are verified, the special election must be held between 88 and 103 days later. This means that, should the city council leave the current ban in place and the courts do not strike it down in the meantime, the special election will take place no later than July.
[1] Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn has already opined as much. In an August 17 ruling on a motion in the case Victoria Pappas v. City of Long Beach, Dunn wrote that because Long Beach’s ban “is virtually identical” to a Los Angeles County ban struck down by the Second District Court of Appeals, Long Beach’s ban “is therefore preempted by state law.” (The Second Appellate District includes Long Beach.)