Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2016
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority

BUTTE COUNTY NEEDS TO ADD TEETH TO MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT

A law without an enforced penalty doesn't have much teeth. That's a 
problem Butte County must rectify when it comes to its rules on 
growing medical marijuana.

The Board of Supervisors today can fine-tune the county's medical 
marijuana growing ordinance. The laws were passed overwhelmingly in 
2014 and implemented last year.

Citizens voted to limit the size of pot gardens that people could 
grow. The larger the lot, the more space a landowner could use, but 
the total was greatly reduced on all lot sizes.

The county worked hard to force compliance last year, handing out 894 
citations for violating the ordinance.

Here's the problem: Those penalties allowed by the law amounted to 
$2.93 million in fines. However, just 6 percent of those fines have 
been paid - and the county says not to expect the number to grow 
because either the grower has left the area or hasn't responded to 
requests to pay up.

Imagine that. If traffic tickets or tax delinquency were handled in 
such a manner - with a request to pay and no repercussions for not 
doing so - not only would most people avoid payment, but more people 
would break the law.

There needs to be a lien placed on the property of people who don't 
pay the fine. Hard to believe that wasn't there all along.

Fortunately, supervisors have a chance to correct that oversight 
today. County Counsel Bruce Alpert recommends four changes to the 
county ordinance, the most significant of which covers fines.

As it stands now, the ordinance only allows the county to recover its 
administrative and abatement costs. If necessary, the county can 
place a lien on the landowners' property for that.

According to Alpert, however, the ordinance "does not clearly state" 
that fines may be recovered via a lien on a person's property, just 
costs. Therefore, 94 percent of the fines weren't paid. Expect that 
number to rise next year if supervisors don't act.

The amendments to the ordinance would clarify that the county could 
recover administrative and abatement costs as well as penalties or 
fines via liens.

Another recommended change is to give the landowner or tenant 10 days 
rather than 20 to correct a violation.

All of the four recommendations are common-sense changes. We find no 
fault with any of them. Based on a year's worth of lessons, we hope 
the supervisors agree and make the ordinance better.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom