This bill is part of the 2025 Cannabis Bills section of our ongoing update on California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update which includes information on cannabis bills from other years.
AB 1209 Workers’ compensation: cannabis industry.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities.
Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires every employer to secure the payment of workers’ compensation as provided by law and imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers that fail to secure the payment of workers’ compensation. Existing law authorizes an employer, pursuant to this provision, to insure against liability in insurers duly authorized to write compensation insurance in the state or to secure from the Director of Industrial Relations a certificate of consent to self-insure.
This bill would require an employer that is licensed or is required to be licensed under MAUCRSA annually to provide proof that it has secured payment of workers’ compensation to the administrative director, as described. The bill would require the administrative director to provide assistance to any employer or entity that notifies the administrative director that it has insufficient workers’ compensation coverage or has been unable to obtain coverage and authorize the administrative director to extend the deadline for compliance. The bill would exempt any employer that secures the payment of workers’ compensation pursuant to these provisions from civil or criminal liability for prior failure to secure the payment of compensation. The bill would require the administrative director to contract with one or more agents to assist employers in complying with these provisions, as specified.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Read more about California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update.
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