After December 31, 2018, authority for the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) to issue temporary cannabis cultivation licenses will expire.  Receipt of a temporary license before the end of 2018 is a pre-requisite for cultivators who wish to obtain a provisional license under recently-enacted Senate Bill 1459 (Cannella).  These licenses allow cultivators to participate in the regulated cannabis marketplace while the environmental review process is being completed, and consequently may be critical for continued legal operations in some cases.

In anticipation of a large number of applications being submitted for temporary licenses, CDFA has announced a deadline to prospective applicants.  To provide sufficient processing time, CDFA’s CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Division is requesting that temporary applications be submitted by December 1, 2018.  Applications received after December 1, 2018 may not be processed in time to issue a temporary license before January 1, 2019. 

For those requesting to receive an extension of an existing temporary cannabis cultivation license, an application for an annual license must be submitted and the application fees paid prior to December 31, 2018. 

RCRC member counties interested in permitting commercial cannabis cultivation within their jurisdiction are encouraged to keep these timelines in mind. 

Step-by-step guides, videos on cultivation licensing application process, and information on the California Cannabis Track-and-Trace system can be accessed here.