June 28, 23

NEWS / Santa Barbara County to deny business licenses to cannabis cultivators not in good standing

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in Santa Barbara County, California, has unanimously approved an ordinance amendment that would allow the county to deny business licenses to businesses that fail to file their taxable sales reports and pay their county Tax on Cannabis Operations due. Those already with licenses would be deemed to be not in good standing and would be denied business license renewals. “If someone is a day late, that’s it, even if they’re in good standing otherwise,” Deputy County Executive Officer Brittany Odermann was quoted by Santa Maria Times as saying. Odermann noted that cannabis operators could file an appeal that would then be reviewed by California’s Office of Administrative Hearings, and if approved, would be able to apply for business licenses in the future. Cannabis Operations Tax Reports are filed on a quarterly basis and are technically due the day after the end of each quarter, but in practice cultivators are given 30 days to file. Any cultivators that do not file within 30 days would be deemed to not be in good standing. Due to the language in the ordinance, some supervisors were at first concerned that the license renewal denials would apply to those who did not file the day after the end of the quarter. “That would be like if you’re one day late on your TOT tax, you have to shut your hotel down,” Supervisor Steve Lavagnino was quoted by Santa Maria Times as saying. However, Lavagnino later stated that he had no problem with the ordinance after clarifying that cultivators had 30 days after the end of each of quarter to file and pay. He also argued that the county should undertake an aggressive effort to notify all cannabis operators of the ordinance change before it becomes effective August 10.