So the sfgate.com had a great article this am.. here is a snippet of it..

POT

With polls showing the legalization of marijuana gaining public support, and a state budget crisis fueling an ever-more-desperate search for revenue, backers of the first major statewide initiative to legalize marijuana for personal use – and allow counties to tax and regulate the drug – say they’re preparing to get the matter on the November 2010 ballot.

The move comes as other legislative efforts to legalize marijuana are beginning to gain traction, including a special July election in Oakland to create a category for cannabis taxes, and hearings this fall on a bill by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to decriminalize the substance.

With California counties and cities facing huge cuts in critical programs because of the state’s $24.3 billion budget deficit – supporters of efforts to legalize and tax marijuana have seized on a new and potentially potent financial argument to take a new look at the issue. Read More

okay so with that article there was a link to TaxCannabis2010.org an interesting site. check it out..  on the site they actually had the updated proposed language.. and well I wanted to share this with everyone.

this is still a draft. if you like to go TaxCannabis2010.org and post your comments in the fourm.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010
Section 1: Name
This Act shall be known as the “Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.”

Section 2: Findings and Purposes
This Act, adopted by the People of the State of California, makes the following Findings and Statement of Purpose:
1. California’s laws criminalizing marijuana (cannabis) have failed and need to be reformed. California spends spending millions in taxpayer dollars filling prisons with non-violent cannabis users, while paroling dangerous, violent criminals, putting our communities at risk.
2. When reforming our cannabis laws, we must protect:
a. The safety and privacy of our citizens.
b. The existing rights of medical patients to medical marijuana.
c. The right of local communities to control their own cannabis policies.
3. Therefore the People desire to enact a law with two sensible purposes to reform our cannabis laws:
a. Regulate cannabis like we do alcohol, allowing adults 21 years of age and older to consume and posses small amounts of cannabis in the privacy of their own homes, or within the confines of a licensed business.
b. Grant local control in California, giving local governments the power and option to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis.
4. At the same time the People wish to ensure:
a. That in any city or county that decides not to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis, that growing, buying and selling cannabis there will remain illegal, though the right of individuals to consume small amounts in the privacy of their own home will remain protected.
b. Any city or county that decides to tax and regulate the growing, buying and selling of cannabis must create a strictly controlled legal system that is limited to adults 21 and over, and will strictly regulate cultivation, distribution and sales, and that the city or county will have complete control over how and how much cannabis can be bought and sold.
5. Taxing and regulating cannabis will generate billions of dollars in annual revenues for California to fund what Californians feel matters most: jobs, health care, schools and libraries, roads, and more.
6. Decriminalizing personal, private, adult consumptionwill free up police resources, enabling law enforcement to focus on drug dealers who target our children with cannabis and other substances, and violent criminals.
7. California will save billions of dollars that would have been spent on targeting, arresting, trying, convicting, and imprisoning non-violent cannabis users. The money saved can go towards apprehending truly dangerous criminals and keeping them locked up, and towards other essential state needs.
8. Where cannabis is sold by licensed, safe, and legal businesses, street dealers will be put out of business, and their influence and affects in our communities will fade.

Section 3: Legal Possession or Consumption
Article 5 of Chapter 5 of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, commencing with section 11300 is added to read:
Section 11300: Lawful Possession and Private Consumption and Cultivation of Marijuana
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it is not unlawful, and shall not be a crime, misdemeanor or infraction for any person 21 years of age or older to:
(i) Privately possess, transport or consume up to one ounce of marijuana, or such other amount a local government permits pursuant to section 11301(n), solely for that individual’s private consumption, and not for sale or resale.
(ii) Cultivate on private property marijuana plants for private consumption only, by the owner or other lawful residents or visitors of the property where grown, in a space of not more than twenty-five square feet (as for example, a square plot five feet on a side) per private residence or, in the absence of a residence, the property. Provided, however, that cultivation on leased or rented property shall be subject to permission from the owner of the property.
(iii) Possess on the premises where grown the living and harvested plants and results of any harvest and processing of plants lawfully cultivated pursuant to section 11300(a)(ii), for private consumption on the premises where grown.

(iv) Possess objects, items, tools, equipment, products and materials associated with activities permitted under this subsection.
(b) “Private consumption” shall include but is not limited to possession and consumption, in any form, of marijuana in a private dwelling, whether permanent or temporary, on private property, and shall include premises open to the public that have been lawfully licensed or permitted for the private sale and on-premises consumption marijuana by a local government pursuant to section 11301.
(c) “Private consumption” shall not include, and nothing in this Act shall permit marijuana:
(i) possession for sale or resale, regardless of amount, except by a person who is licensed or permitted to do so under the terms of an ordinance adopted pursuant to section 11301;
(ii) consumption in public or in a public place;
(iii) consumption any place where children may be present, other than in a private dwelling or on private property with the permission of the owner or lessor of the property;
(iv) consumption on a school bus or in any vehicle, boat or aircraft that is being operated, or that adversely affects the operator of any vehicle, boat or aircraft.

Section 11301: Local Laws to Control, Regulate and Tax Commercial Marijuana
Notwithstanding any other provision of state or local law, a local government may adopt ordinances, regulations, or other acts having the force of law to control, license, regulate, permit or otherwise authorize, with conditions, the following:
(a) cultivation, processing, the safe and secure transportation, sale and possession for sale of marijuana, but only by persons lawfully licensed, permitted or authorized to do so;
(b) retail sale of up to one ounce per person per transaction, or such other amount as established under subsection (n), in a licensed and permitted premises, to persons 21 years or older, for personal consumption and not for resale;
(c) consumption of marijuana within licensed or permitted premises;
(d) safe and secure transportation, within the jurisdiction, of marijuana from a facility licensed or permitted for cultivation or processing, to a premises licensed or permitted for sale or sale and on-premises consumption of marijuana;
(e) prohibit and punish through civil fines or other remedies the possession, sale, or possession for sale, of marijuana that was not obtained from a licensed or permitted place of sale, cultivation, processing and transportation;
(f) appropriate limits on licensed or permitted premises for sale, or sale and on-premises use, of marijuana, including limits on zoning, locations, size, hours of operation, occupancy, protection of adjoining and nearby properties and persons from unwanted exposure, advertising, signs and displays, and other controls necessary for protection of the public health and welfare;
(g) appropriate controls on cultivation, transportation, sales, and consumption of marijuana to strictly prohibit access to minors under the age of 21;
(h) age limits to ensure that all persons present in, employed by, or in any way involved in the operation of, any such permitted or licensed business, facility or premises are 21 years of age or older;
(i) appropriate environmental and public health controls to ensure that any such permitted or licensed business, facility or premisses minimizes any harm to the environment, adjoining and nearby landowners, and persons passing by;
(j) appropriate controls to prohibit public display, use or consumption of marijuana;
(k) appropriate controls, including civil fines and penalties, to prohibit and punish cultivation, processing, transportation, sale or use of marijuana that is not authorized by law;
(l) appropriate zoning and land use controls to control the location, size or other characteristics of any permitted or licensed facility to protect the public health and welfare;
(m) appropriate taxes or fees pursuant to section 11302;
(n) such larger amounts for private possession, cultivation and possession of cultivation results within the jurisdiction than those established under section 11300(a) as the local authority deems appropriate and proper due to local circumstances;
(o) any other appropriate controls necessary for protection of the public health and welfare.

Section 11302: Imposition and Collection of Taxes and Fees
(a) Any ordinance, regulation or other act adopted pursuant to section 11301 may include imposition of appropriate general, special or excise, transfer or transaction taxes, or fees, on any activity permitted or licensed pursuant to such enactment, in order to permit the local government to raise revenue, or to recoup any direct or indirect costs associated with the permitted or licensed activity, or the permitting or licensing scheme, including without limitation: administration; applications and issuance or licenses or permits; inspection of licensed or permitted premises; enforcement; law enforcement or public safety; law enforcement against unlicensed or unpermitted activities.
(b) Any permitted or licensed business, facility, or premises shall be responsible for paying all federal, state and local taxes, fees, fines, penalties or other financial responsibility imposed on all or similarly situated businesses, facilities or premises, including without limitation income taxes business taxes, license fees and property taxes, without regard to or identification of the business or items or services sold. Provided however, that licensed or permitted sales of marijuana seeds or whole plants shall be exempt from sales taxes to the same extent that other seeds or plants are exempt.

Section 11303: Seizure
(a) Notwithstanding sections 11470 and 11479 of the Health and Safety Code, no state or local law enforcement agency or official shall attempt, threaten or in fact seize or destroy any marijuana plant, seeds or marijuana that is lawfully cultivated, processed, transported, possessed, possessed for sale, sold or used in compliance with this Act or any local government ordinance, law or regulation adopted pursuant to this Act.
Section 11304: Effect of Act and Definitions
(a) This Act is expressly intended to limit the application and enforcement of all state and local laws relating to possession, transportation, cultivation, use and sale of marijuana, including but not limited to the following, whether now existing or adopted in the future: Health and Safety Code sections 11014.5 and 11364.5 [relating to drug paraphernalia]; 11054 [relating to marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinols]; 11357 [relating to possession]; 11358 [relating to cultivation]; 11359 [possession for sale]; 11360 [relating to transportation and sales]; 11361 [relating to minors]; 11370 [relating to punishment]; 11470 [relating to forfeiture]; 11479 [relating to seizure and destruction]; 11703 [relating to definitions regarding illegal substances]; 11705 [actions for use of illegal controlled substance]; Vehicle Code sections 23222 and 40000.15 [relating to possession].
(b) This Act is not intended to affect the application or enforcement of state laws relating to public health and safety or protection of children and others, including but not limited to: Health and Safety Code sections 11357 [relating to possession on school grounds]; 11532 [relating to loitering to commit a crime or acts not authorized by law]; Vehicle Code section 23152 [relating to driving while under the influence]; Penal Code section 272 [relating to contributing to the delinquency of a minor]; nor any law prohibiting use of controlled substances in the workplace or by specific persons whose jobs involve public safety.
(c) This Act shall not be construed to affect, limit or amend any statute that forbids impairment while engaging in dangerous activities like driving, or that penalizes bringing marijuana to a school enrolling pupils in any grade from kindergarten through 12, inclusive.
(d) Definitions
For purposes of this Act:
(i) “Marijuana” means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; concentrated cannabis; edible products containing same; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin.
(ii) “One ounce” means 28.35 grams.
(iii) For purposes of section 11300(a)(ii) “marijuana plant” means all parts of a living Cannabis Sativa L. plant.
(iv) In determining whether an amount of marijuana is or is not in excess of the amounts in section 11300(a), or any local ordinance or regulation adopted pursuant to 11301(l), only the amount of the marijuana in an edible marijuana product shall be included.
(v) In determining whether an amount of marijuana is or is not in excess of the amounts set forth in section 11300(a), or any local ordinance or regulation adopted pursuant to section 11301(n), living and harvested marijuana plants shall be assessed by square footage, not by weight.
(vi) In determining whether an amount of marijuana is or is not in excess of the amounts set forth in section 11300(a), or any local ordinance or regulation adopted pursuant to section 11301(n), where the marijuana is grown and harvested pursuant to section 11300(a)(iii), only the weight of the dried marijuana flowers and leaves shall be included, and such total amount on the premises may not exceed 32 ounces from one or more harvest, unless a local ordinance or regulation adopted pursuant to section 11301(l) permits a larger amount.

Section 4: Amendment
Pursuant to Article 2, section 10(c) of the California Constitution, this Act may be amended either by a subsequent measure submitted to a vote of the People at a statewide General election; or by statute validly passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, but only to further the purposes of the Act. Furthermore, the limitations herein on consumption, cultivation and possession and other acts are minimum thresholds and the Legislature may adopt more expansive limits.

Section 5: Severability
If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the measure that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this measure are severable.