Opposition Challenges Marijuana Ordinance

Opposition efforts to overturn the Yuba County Board of Supervisors (BOS) revised Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance have begun. A suit has been filed in Yuba County Superior Court with by Bay Area Attorney Joe Elford who is also advising Yuba Patients Coalition. Elford represented marijuana cultivators and patients in a failed challenge to the City of Live Oak’s cultivation ordinance. The 3rd District Court in Sacramento held that Live Oak had every right to prohibit cultivation within the confines of the city limits.

After numerous meetings and workshops, the Board voted, March 10, 2015, to ban outdoor cultivation, limit the plant count to a maximum of twelve, and require grower registration with a permit fee of $441. In addition, the Board added an emergency declaration making the new rules effective immediately. Under normal circumstances, the ordinance would have gone into effect 30 days after passage. The urgency declaration effectively prohibited opponents from proposing a voter referendum and collecting signatures.

One group, among others, the Yuba Patients Coalition, is currently in in the process of determining the way(s) forward in their dispute with the BOS.

As quoted in BALLOTPEDIA, Greg Litwin, a Yuba Patients Coalition consultant said the group is looking at “all political and legal options available. This includes negotiating with the county for a better ordinance, injunctive relief and/or a lawsuit, and possible recall elections for some members of the Board of Supervisors.”

One of the issues before the court will be the use of the Urgency Declaration by the BOS. Challenging what the urgency was and was it imposed to keep the issue off the ballot. The opponents can still go through the longer process of a voter initiative to get the issue before the voters. If the injunction is successful it will prevent enforcement of the ordinance from taking place.