Lassen Supervisors Hold Off on November Cannabis Advisory Measure- For Now

The Lassen Supervisors will hold off on moving forward with the cannabis advisory measure for the November ballot for now. During a meeting of the board today, district 3 Supervisor Hemphill was absent making Supervisor Albaugh move to table the discussion until next month’s meeting. Argued today was that the measure is an advisory measure only that will gather a consensus of how you feel about the cannabis industry with a simple yes or no vote answer to whether you feel cannabis should be allowed within the industrialized zoned unincorporated areas of the county. That vote though will not have any binding action on the board to follow voters’ will. County administrator Richard Egan did caution the board though that with the volatility of the cannabis industry at the state and federal level there comes the risk of placing a more definitive vote on the ballot as it would not allow flexibility to accommodate any changes, in that any amendments would then have to return back to the voters in the form of another ballot measure, incurring even more costs to the county. The Lassen Clerk Recorder’s Office said a ballot measure can cost upwards of between 8 to 15 thousand dollars during a regular election cycle. And on a county that is already tight on money more costs to keep current with cannabis volatility can be exhaustive. The supervisors will have until Aug 12th to make a final decision on the measure in time to be placed on the November ballot. The board will meet again to discuss this on July 12th.