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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Cannabis Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 14.5. Cannabis Tax
Chapter 3. Administration
Section 34016
34016. Inspection authority. (a) Any peace officer or department employee granted limited peace officer status pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 830.11 of the Penal Code, upon presenting appropriate credentials, is authorized to enter any place as described in paragraph (2) and to conduct inspections in accordance with the following paragraphs, inclusive.
(1) Inspections shall be performed in a reasonable manner and at times that are reasonable under the circumstances, taking into consideration the normal business hours of the place to be entered.
(2) Inspections may be at any place at which cannabis or cannabis products are sold to purchasers, cultivated, or stored, at any site where evidence of activities involving evasion of tax may be discovered, or at any place where any package, label, advertisement, or other document or object of any kind bearing the universal symbol as described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (c) of Section 26130 of the Business and Professions Code are sold or stored in violation of Section 26031.6 of the Business and Professions Code.
(3) Inspections shall be conducted no more than once in a 24-hour period.
(b) Any person who fails or refuses to allow an inspection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Each offense shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or imprisonment not exceeding one year in a county jail, or both the fine and imprisonment. The court shall order any fines assessed be deposited in the California Cannabis Tax Fund.
(c) (1) (A) The department or a law enforcement agency may seize cannabis or cannabis products from a person who possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of those cannabis or cannabis products if any of the following apply:
(i) Until January 1, 2023, the cannabis or cannabis products are without evidence of tax payment.
(ii) The cannabis or cannabis products are not contained in secure packaging.
(iii) The person is an unlicensed person specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 34015.1.
(iv) The cannabis or cannabis products were not reported in the track and trace system, as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 34015.1.
(B) The department may seize any package, label, advertisement, or other document or object of any kind bearing the universal symbol in violation of Section 26031.6 of the Business and Professions Code and deemed contraband. Any package, label, advertisement, or other document or object seized by the department pursuant to this paragraph shall be deemed forfeited and the department shall comply with the procedures set forth in Sections 30436 to 30449, inclusive.
(C) Any cannabis or cannabis products seized by a law enforcement agency or the department shall be deemed forfeited and the department shall comply with the procedures set forth in Sections 30436 through 30449, inclusive.
(2) Any seizures authorized pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision are in addition to any criminal or civil penalties that may be imposed by law, including subdivision (e) of this section.
(d) Any person who renders a false or fraudulent report is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each offense.
(e) Any violation of any provisions of this part, except as otherwise provided, is a misdemeanor and is punishable as such.
(f) All moneys remitted to the department under this part shall be credited to the California Cannabis Tax Fund.
History—Added by Proposition 64, approved by voters at the November 8, 2016 election, in effect November 9, 2016. Stats. 2017, Ch. 27 (SB 94), in effect June 27, 2017, substituted "cannabis" for "marijuana" throughout; and deleted "requested or" after "shall be" in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). Stats. 2022, Ch. 474 (SB 1496), in effect January 1, 2023, substituted "department" for "board" after "peace officer or" and substituted "(2)" for "(3)" after "described in paragraph" in subdivision (a); added subparagraph (1)(A) to subdivision (c); redesignated former subdivision (c) as subparagraph (c)(1)(B); deleted the first sentence that read "Upon discover by the board or a law enforcement agency that a licensee or any other person possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of cannabis or cannabis products, without evidence of tax payment or not contained in secure packaging, the board or the law enforcement agency shall be authorized to seize the cannabis or cannabis products", substituted "department shall" for "board shall within seven days" after "agency or the", and substituted "department" for "board" after "forfeited and the" in subparagraph (c)(1)(B), and added paragraph (2) to subdivision (c); and substituted "department" for "board" after "remitted to the" in subdivision (f). Amended by Stats. 2023, ch. 563 (AB 1126), effective January 1, 2024, deleted the word "or" after "cultivated, or stored," in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a); added ", or at any place … 26031.6 of the Business and Professions Code." after "may be discovered" in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a); added a new subparagraph (B) to subdivision (c)(1); and relettered the former subparagraph (B) of subdivision (c)(1) as subparagraph (C) of the same subdivision.