ON THE RECORD
Nicholas Schou
Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger. If you have tips or stories about Montecito, please email him at newseditor@montecitojournal.net
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SB Grand Jury Blasts Board of Supervisors for Marijuana Mess
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n June 30, Santa Barbara’s Grand Jury released an historic, scathing report detailing alleged official malfeasance by the Board of Supervisors as it sought to regulate cannabis over the past three years, particularly DiDdidyoyouuaaddjjuusstt for tthheeppoosts-tC-C OO VIVDID wowrlodr?ld? in Carpinteria but also in North County wine country. By law, the report mentioned no names and took no stand on the legalization of cannabis, which has the support of a majority of county residents. Yet much of the report highlighted what it called questionable behavior by members of the Board’s so-called “Ad Hoc Sub Committee” which only consisted of Supervisors Steve Lavagnino ThTehw eo wroldrldhhaasscchhaannged ddrraammaatitciaclalyllythtishiyseayre, alirk,elliykeaclycealecrcaetlienrgactihnagngcehsanges and Das Williams. thatht aw ereerealarlereaaddyy hhappeennininggininouoruw rw tw oro ldr.ld. In its report, the Grand Jury wrote that as a result of the Ad Hoc committee’s direct handling of cannabis issues on behalf of the county, the cannabis lobby HoHwowww e ealal llwwoorrkk,, eeat, ggaatthheer,r,aann iew d dvievw safseatfyehtyavheaavlel baelel nbeinednelibnldy elibly had “nearly unfettered access” to the Board of Supervisors and county staff, altaelrted redalaoln onggwwitithh ootherr aassppeecctstsofoof uorulirvelisv.es. resulting in the “excessive allowance of licenses and acreage, creation of an unverified affidavit system,” and other policy errors. According to jurors, the ThTehqe uqeusetsio tionnisis:: hhaavve yoouurr ppoortrftofo liolioanadnydouyo r ufinr afinncaianl cpilaalnpblaen enbaedeanptaedapted county also failed to follow up on “widespread odor complaints” and other community concerns. forfotrhtehseeseddrarammaattiicc cchannggeess?? “The action taken by the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors to certify the development of a robust cannabis industry as the primary objective of the canFoFr otrhtehepapsatst2288yyeeaars I hhaavveehheelplp d ifliaem ededlolcoacl ainl din ivdidivuiadlsuanlsdafnam s ilies nabis ordinances has altered the quality of life in Santa Barbara County, perhaps unudnedrestrsatnad ndththeeirir fifinnanciiaall ssitituuaatitoinonanadnpdreppraerpeafroer ftohre tfh uteurfeu.ture. forever,” the report’s introduction flatly states. “Instead of a balanced approach carefully evaluating how the cannabis industry would be compatible, both as NoNwowis ias aggrereaattttim imee to ggeett aannoothth erepr rporfo esfseiossniaolnvaiel wvieow n tohn e rtehaedirneeasd s ionfess of to amount of acreage and location, the Board simply opened the floodgates.” yoyuorupr oprotrftofolio edithwaitnhoa-consot,-cinost, in lioaanndd pplan.. CCoonntatactctmm e etoto gegt estasrteadrtw One of the Grand Jury’s most serious charges against the Ad Hoc commitdedpetphthrerveiveiw ew. . tee was that it pushed through a tax revenue scheme that allowed growers to be taxed only for the “gross receipts” they produced rather than the actual square-footage area of their farms. Thus, the jurors argued, the county effectively delegated its cannabis tax policy to a bunch of marijuana farmers who might simply sell to end users on the black market whatever portion of their crop they didn’t want to pay taxes for. Although the committee at one point promised tax revenues as lofty as $25 million per year, Santa Barbara only generated $6.8 million worth of tax revenue CChhrirsitsoto phpehreGr aGlla ollo from 2018 to 2019. By comparison, Monterey County, which has fewer farms U B S F i n a n c i a l UBS Financial SeS rveircv esicIensc.Inc. but taxes them by square footage, took in in $15.4 million over the same period. t aCrrailrlroillSotreSetrteet 222222EaEsatsC In any event, jurors argued, the huge revenues being promised by the comSSuuitiete101606 mittee as well as cannabis lobbyists were simply imaginary, assuming all that SSaanntataBaBrabrabra,raC,AC9A3190311-70114-7 6 146 weed was supposed to be legal. “Santa Barbara is just one of 58 counties in 880055-9-9 636-33-73771718008-0206-22-46727-4774 California,” they pointed out, “but with almost 500 registrants seeking as many as 1,365 separate cultivation permits, the county’s growers could potentially produce over 3.7 million pounds of cannabis per year, which is more than double the legal amount of cannabis consumed by the entire state.” Under the aegis of the Ad Hoc committee, Lavagnino and Williams also ® ® IM ChCrhisrtisotp AA oh pheer rTT. .GGaalllo, CCFFPP®®, ,CCIM allegedly allowed cannabis growers who own numerous greenhouses on counCPCW A® PW A® ty property immediately surrounding Carpinteria to receive county permits VicVeicPerPerseid Maannaaggeemm siedennt t--W Weealth M enetnt simply by signing affidavits claiming they intended to eventually conform to PoPrtofrotfloiolioMMaannaaggeerr whatever land-use or other regulations county officials might have in mind. 80850-57-3703-03-4 This so-called “legal non-conforming status” category, jurors wrote, allowed 342255 individual growers to receive as many 100-square-feet growing permits as they chcrihsrtiostpohpehre.rt..tg.gaallo m lo@ @ubs..ccoom wanted. Each of those permits was supposed to be provided only to lots that included a “residential structure.” The county, however, never enforced that rule, allowing growers to vastly expand their operations and certain Carpinteria farmers to tally up dozens of such permits for their rapidly expanding farms. Perhaps the Grand Jury’s most incendiary charge is that it felt stonewalled by ubusb.cso /f/sf/sc/chhrriissttoopheerrttggaalllolo .cm om the very county executives who were the target of its inquiry, which took some 18 months to complete and included interviews with hundreds of people. “This As aAsfiarmfirp meennt tsesrevrivceicsetsotcoliecnlitesn tsB, SUFBinSaFnicniaalnSceiravlicSeesrIvnic.eos fIfnecrs. booffthers both investigation by the Jury was hindered by the denial of its request for subpoemropvroidvin digngwweeaaltlh th m maanaggeem ,U inveinstvm ntenatdavdisvoisroyryseservrviciceess aand bbrrookkeeraraggeesesrevricveics.eIsn.vIensvtm esetnmt eandtviasodrvyiso ices to be issued to non-government witnesses who might have been helpful to esetm errvyicseesravnicdesbraonkderabgroe kservaig cees servnas are asreepsaerpaatreataenadnddidsitsitnincct,t,ddiiffffeer in m maatteeriraial w lw ayasyasnadnadreagreovgeornveedrnbeyddb iffyerdeinfftelarewnstalnadwsseapn ardatseeparate the inquiry,” jurors wrote. The investigation was further hindered by a “twoarraanrrgaenm netsn.tsIt. Iits isimimppoortrtaanntt that cclliieenntstsuu geem ndnedrestrasntadntdhethweayws ainyswihnicw h hwicehcowneduccotnbduusicnteb ssuasnindetshsaat nd that theythceayrceafruelflyullryearedadththeeaaggrreeeem mentss aannddddisicslcolsousruesretshath t awtewpreovpirdoevtiodethteomthaebm outatbhoeuptrothdeucptsroodr ucts or month delay in the final production of requested documents from the County of servsiecrevsicw maattiioonn, ,pplelaesaesererveievwiew e FPdDoFcudm oceunm coom us. Barbara that was purported to be responsive and complete.” And it gets esewoeffoeffr.erF. oFrormmoorere iinnfform thethPD t aetnutbast.cu ob ms/.w rk/inwgowrikthinugs.withSanta ® CerC tifi eretidfieFdinFainnacniacliaPl lPaln annneerrBBooaard ooff SSttaannddaradrsdIsnIcn. co.wonw s nthseth ceertcifiecratitfiiocnatmioanrkm s CaFrPk®s aCnFdPC EaRnTdIFIC EDERTIFIED worse: “During the investigation, the Jury learned that all documents requested ™™ ® CIIM MAA® isisa arergeig ioanrkmoaf rtkheoIfntvheestm Inevnetsstm tseaanltd FINA CN IACLIAPLLPALN FINA ANENRER inintthhee U U.S. C stiesrteedrecderctiefirctaifi tiocantm anednW h Wealth InstIintusttietu, tfeo, rfm CCAA, ,inintthhee UnniitteeddSStatatetsesofoAf m Aemriecaricaandan idUeB. S©2U0B2S0.2A0ll2r0ig.hAtsllrerisgehrvtesdr.eservhave ed. not been provided.” oremrelyrlIyMIM wdorw ldowrilddew .©
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.” – Oscar Levant
ON THE RECORD Page 374 9 – 16 July 2020
