The Legislature recently passed the most significant reforms to SMARA in more than 20 years, as we detailed in a prior post here. These reform measures touch every key process in SMARA, including the reclamation plan review and approval process, the… Read More

On Tuesday, June 28, the California Secretary of State announced that proponents of the “Adult Use of Marijuana Act” (“AUMA”) submitted enough valid petition signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The AUMA, if approved by… Read More

The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, otherwise known as Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), is the California State Law that establishes statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets through 2020. This bill requires the California Air Resourc… Read More

Two companion bills that together would enact the most significant reforms in more than twenty years to California’s mining law, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (“SMARA”), are headed to the Senate and Assembly floors for a final vote. As… Read More

On January 26, 2016, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors adopted the first comprehensive local commercial medical marijuana land use ordinance under the State Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (“MMRSA”). The County’s “Commercia… Read More

As we detailed in a prior post here, on October 9, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law three bills (AB 243, AB 266 and SB 643) that together establish a comprehensive state regulatory system for the commercial cultivation, processing, manufacturing,… Read More

In an open letter to local government leaders, Assembly Member Jim Wood announced that “an inadvertent drafting error” has caused local governments to “scramble” to enact local regulations permitting the commercial cultivation of medical cann… Read More

In a pair of cases involving railroad transloading activities, the First Circuit Court of Appeal confirmed that federal law preempts state and local regulation of rail transportation, but remanded one of the cases back to the Surface Transportation B… Read More