Know Your Rights. *UPDATE 6/17*
Posted on 08/18/2025
Greetings!
Renewal season is upon us. The 2026 Renewal period will begin on Tuesday, September, 2nd, 2025 and runs through November 3, 2025. There are some changes to the process this year. To help make your experience more efficient and understandable, these changes will be presented in two upcoming webinars. Please ensure you submit your renewal application and documentation, as record and license renewals will not happen automatically. Read on for more information.
I also want to note that this fiscal year, DCR updated its fees and fines to better reflect the financial realities of the City. With this in mind, I’m happy to announce that thanks to Councilmember Padilla’s guidance, all Social Equity applicants will have their standard license and record renewal fee covered by available State grant funding.
Now that many of our licensed cannabis businesses have received their annual license, DCR is preparing businesses for the last phase of the permanent license process - going through the appropriate inspections from the various City departments and obtaining an Operating Permit. DCR is developing materials and informative presentations to assist businesses as they navigate these inspections, which takes significant time to complete, and to know the important milestones each business must reach. Because this process at times can be confusing and cumbersome, Mayor Bass created the Restaurant and Small Business Express Program which will pair a case manager with your business to assist through the permit process. Please investigate whether this is a good fit for your business and stay tuned for more information from DCR on obtaining an Operating Permit.
Also, State legislators have introduced bills (AB-8 and AB-564) that could provide temporary tax relief from California’s recent cannabis excise tax increase. To read more about the bills, click here. For updates on City of Los Angeles legislative matters, read the article in this bulletin.
Finally, DCR honors and acknowledges Black Business Month this month. DCR urges you to support social equity and small local businesses. For a listing of Social Equity operators in the City of Los Angeles, please visit DCR’s Map of Legal Retailers where you can toggle on to see Social Equity owned businesses.
Best,
Michelle Garakian
Executive Director
Department of Cannabis Regulation
Please mark your calendars for the 2026 DCR Renewal season beginning on September 2, 2025, and ending on November 3, 2025. DCR will host two webinars that review the requisites for the 2026 license renewal cycle. The first overview will take place at a special edition of the monthly Q&A Virtual Lunch Hour with Jason Killeen on August 20, 2025 at noon. The second webinar that reviews documents that will be needed to complete the renewal will take place on August 27, 2025, also at noon. You can RSVP, pre-submit questions, and join these events here.
Please note that, if not renewed, all 2025 records and licenses
will expire after 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
Businesses with expired licenses must cease operations.
For 2026 renewals, DCR will use available grant funding to cover the standard license and record renewal fee for all Social Equity applicants only. Please note, you must still complete and submit a renewal application by the November 3, 2025 deadline. Licenses will not be renewed automatically and fee waivers will not cover late fees.
Also, this renewal period DCR will allow fictitious business name/DBA and business premises diagram modifications to the record without incurring extra charges. The renewal period is also an opportunity to review and update other contact types, such as Neighborhood Liaison, Consultant, Law Firm, and Authorized Agent without additional costs.
For additional written information on renewal steps please refer to the email communication sent August 8, 2025, here.
Please email DCRLicensing@lacity.org with any questions.
This fiscal year, DCR underwent a legally mandated fee study to update its fees and align with spending and budget realities in the City of Los Angeles. DCR understands the strain this may cause to some businesses, but this update was necessary to cover costs and adhere to City financial policies. Thanks to Councilmember Padilla’s guidance, all Social Equity applicants will have their standard license and record renewal fee covered by available State grant funding
You may view the entire legislative process of this fee study here and the new fees here.
Please reach out to DCR at cannabis@lacity.org with any questions and/or concerns.
All cannabis businesses licensed in the City of Los Angeles are required to file and pay Cannabis Business Taxes on a monthly basis through the Office of Finance.
If a license has been issued by DCR but your business has not yet begun operations or generated any gross receipts, you are still required to file a return and report zero (0) gross receipts for each applicable month.
Timely filing helps maintain compliance and avoids potential penalties or fees.
Businesses can file online here.
Questions? Contact the Office of Finance at: finance.csd.appt@lacity.org
In April and August 2025, DCR updated its Rules and Regulations for Cannabis Procedures. Here’s a quick review of the most notable changes.
- New deadlines were added for all Licensees to obtain Public Health Permits and Certificates of Occupancy
- A new requirement was added to submit LIC-4025-FORM (Licensee Attestation: Public Health, Building & Operating Permits) for the next several renewal cycles.
- The prohibition on onsite events was removed. Licensees may hold events on their licensed Business Premises
- The prohibition on entertainment and outdoor speakers were removed.
- Factors were added to determine whether a delivery-only licensee is conducting retail activity
- Inventory discrepancies were upgraded to a major violation and a 72 hour cure period at DCR's discretion was added
- A new rule was added to require that Licensees with suspended or revoked licenses to post the suspension or revocation in the window of the Business Premises
To read the updated Rules and Regulations for Cannabis Procedures click here.
| So you received your annual license, now what? By the following dates, all Applicants and Licensees must obtain: |
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Small businesses can take advantage of the City of Los Angeles’s Restaurant and Small Business Express Program that assigns a case manager to help navigate through the City’s various city permit processes. More information is here and here.
Again, although these requirements dates sound far away, the inspection processes require a significant amount of time to complete.
More information on these steps can be found here. Please stay tuned for news about material and information webinars on this topic.
Cannabis Business Courses Available to All
In an effort to support cannabis businesses in this competitive industry, DCR is offering online courses to increase cannabis business acumen and, in turn, business success. These back-to-fundamentals courses include a series on branding & marketing; merchandise transport; security considerations; financial planning & payroll; insurance and risk management, to name a few.
Applicants interested in taking advantage of the courses mentioned above can fill out this form.
DCR Websites…Where can I find stuff?
Earlier this year, DCR launched a new website called Access Cannabis that now houses the licensing portal, technical information, and forms that are needed by applicants and licensees. Access Cannabis also hosts the Social Equity Program pages. The Access Cannabis website compliments the Department’s regular website that lives here.
Things have moved around a bit between the two online sites. So please take a look at the DCR website and Access Cannabis.
You can jump to the Access Cannabis site from the main DCR Website, too, and vice versa!
Some helpful quick links:
Job Board DCR Forms Compliance Inspections
License Application Manage My Record Social Equity Program Resources
The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) is making updates to its licensing systems. These updates include updating contact types and functionality within two licensing systems to better align with its regulations under California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 4, section 15000 through 17905. System updates will be implemented on August 14, 2025.
Upcoming changes to the Cannabis Licensing Enforcement and Reporting (CLEaR) system, which supports distributors, testing laboratories, manufacturers, retailers, microbusinesses, cannabis event organizers, and temporary events, will include:
- Changing the owner applicant contact title to designated responsible party (DRP)
- Removing the primary contact and the legal representative contact and
- Adding an informed recipient contact
Upcoming changes to the Cultivation Licensing System (CLS), which supports cultivation, including processors and nurseries, will include:
- Removing the delegate functionality and
- Adding an informed recipient contact
To read more about DCC’s announcement, click here.
Los Angeles
On August 6, City Council moved forward with instructions for DCR and other City departments to report on a potential regulatory framework and best practices for temporary cannabis event licenses and cannabis consumption lounge licenses.
In June, Councilmember Padilla introduced a Motion asking the City Administrative Officer to report on the feasibility of adopting a cannabis tax policy similar to the City of Oakland and the economic impacts of lowering the City’s cannabis tax rates. As of August 5, the Council File has been transmitted to the Budget and Finance Committee.
DCR would like to remind constituents about recent changes implemented by the Los Angeles City Council that affect how individuals can participate in Cannabis Regulation Commission (CRC) meetings. Since phone-in access for meetings has been eliminated citywide, CRC meetings no longer include a virtual participation option; therefore, individuals interested in providing public comment will have to attend CRC meetings in person. This change began on May 15, 2025, and was previously communicated here and here.
CRC meetings will continue to be livestreamed here. For more information on the schedule and location of these meetings, please click here.
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