On November 8, 2011, the Marijuana Business License tax, Chapter 5.05 of the Vallejo Municipal Code, was approved by Vallejo citizens.
"Marijuana Business" refers to business activity including but not limited to, planting, cultivation, harvesting, transporting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, processing, preparing, storing, packaging, wholesale, and/or retail sales of marijuana and any ancillary products in the City, whether or not carried on for gain or profit.
The Marijuana Business License Tax was imposed on every person engaged in cannabis business in the City of Vallejo.
However, even though the tax has been collected, cannabis businesses are actually a prohibited use in the City of Vallejo based on the zoning ordinance. None of the existing cannabis retailers operate legally within Vallejo because there is no land use structure.
On January 13, 2015, the City Council of the City of Vallejo, recognizing this discrepancy, directed staff to do the following:
- Shut down existing marijuana dispensaries who are operating in non-compliance with the City's zoning ordinance by initiating enforcement action.
- Stop issuing licenses and permits for marijuana dispensaries and stop collecting the taxes for these illegal businesses. To this end, the City has disabled the link which allows the submittal of marijuana tax online, and is not receiving marijuana tax.
- Draft and present to the council, as soon as possible, a regulatory ordinance which would allow the operation of a limited number of regulated marijuana dispensaries.
Fast forward to December 2018, there are 11 cannabis operators that are in compliance with the Vallejo Municipal Code. The City Council will consider amendments to the zoning code to regulate these activities both from a minor use permit on the land use side, as well as a Chapter 7.200 regulatory permit.