Civil Division

Partnership makes Fresno the first in the state to participate in new California DOJ program

FRESNO — Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced an innovative new partnership with the City of Fresno to tackle unlicensed, illegal commercial cannabis activities. The agreement signed today makes the city of Fresno the first in the state to participate in the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Cannabis Administrative Prosecutor Program (CAPP). The program provides California cities and counties who partner with DOJ legal support to address illegal cannabis activity through administrative enforcement and nuisance abatement. CAPP will provide vital support to local governments who sign on by increasing the scope of illicit cannabis enforcement; providing resources and education to build enforcement programs; and providing cost-effective evidence collection that could lead to large-scale, statewide prosecution of those involved in illegal cannabis activity. This cooperative effort between DOJ and local jurisdictions leverages the administrative enforcement powers of cities and counties and will supplement the important criminal and civil enforcement efforts being undertaken by the Department of Cannabis Control and the Governor’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force, which is led by the Department of Cannabis Control and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Complex problems require creative and collaborative solutions,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “This innovative new program allows my office to better support local governments in our collective efforts to tackle illegal cannabis activities, and we are confident that this new cost-effective program will have dramatic and measurable effects. I thank the City of Fresno for their partnership and look forward to working together through this new approach to hold participants in the illegal cannabis market accountable.” 

“Our partnership is aimed at assisting the local legitimate cannabis industry and help grow the Fresno’s tax base," said Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz. "It is my hope that this, first-of-a-kind joint venture between the Fresno City Attorney’s and the Office of the Attorney General will be a model for other large cities. For far too long, these underground operations have targeted children and minors without fear of retribution. This inventive new approach will seek to put an end to that.”

Despite the legalization of cannabis in California in 2016 through the voter-approved Adult Use of Marijuana Act, unlicensed cannabis activities remain a significant problem in the state. In fact, illegal operators make up the majority of California cannabis activity. The city of Fresno, like many communities throughout California, is impacted by the illegal cannabis market — whether it be illegal cultivation, manufacturing, or retail sales.

DOJ, along with state, federal, and local law enforcement partners continue to target illegal cannabis sites and establishments. Through their illegal activities, these operators threaten the environment, violate workers’ rights, harm public safety, and also cause economic harm to legal operators and the state. Throughout the state, law enforcement, including DOJ, have eradicated hundreds of millions of illegal cannabis plants in recent years. In October 2022, Attorney General Bonta provided the results of DOJ’s 2022 seasonal work to eradicate a total of 973,894 cannabis plants from 449 illicit cannabis grow sites in 26 counties across California; seize over 200,000 pounds of processed cannabis and 184 weapons; remove over 33 tons of cultivation infrastructure, 538.2 tons of fertilizer, 622.2 miles of water line, 33.4 gallons of hazardous/restricted use poisons, 1,180 20-pound propane tanks, and 45 dams or illegally constructed reservoirs and water diversions. Also in 2022, Attorney General Bonta announced a new year-round task force, the Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC) task force, to allow DOJ to build out its cannabis enforcement work and investigate and prosecute civil and criminal cases with a focus on environmental, economic, and labor impacts from illegal cultivation. 

The CAPP Program builds on this work by adding an additional strategy through partnerships with local jurisdictions. By treating illegal cannabis activity as a public nuisance, a land-use issue, and like any other illegal business practice, DOJ's new partnership with local jurisdictions such as Fresno, will use cost-effective, expedient, and efficient administrative enforcement methods that will hold those who profit by illegal cannabis activity accountable through the issuance of citations, notices of violations, and orders to abate the illegal activity. If cited, illegal operators will have an opportunity to voluntarily shut down their operation, or face the eradication of unlicensed commercial cannabis cultivation or the cessation of unlicensed retail or manufacturing activity, as well as an order authorizing the recovery of enforcement costs. 

DOJ, through its Cannabis Control Section, will provide the following support to the city of Fresno, and other local jurisdictions who sign onto the CAPP program to address illegal cultivation by:

• Provide attorneys to act as administrative prosecutors before local administrative hearing bodies or officers and, where necessary, assist with the development of procedures for expedited administrative enforcement. 
• Assist with investigative services through the EPIC program and its partnerships with other agencies. 
• If necessary, perform the administrative work necessary to provide notices, including assisting in facilitating administrative procedures, and assisting with logistical issues through the use of private process servers, contract code compliance officers, and abatement contractors. 

The program is designed to be self-funded as DOJ staff, in coordination with the local government, will seek to recover costs through fines, enforcement actions, stipulated administrative orders, settlements, and abatement liens. Any funding received that exceeds the cost of services provided as part of this MOU will be held by the city of Fresno.  

Learn more about the about CAPP by visiting http://oag.ca.gov/Capp.

Joins amicus brief in support of Delaware’s assault weapon and high capacity magazine ban

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in support of a district court decision denying an attempt to block Delaware’s law restricting assault weapons and large capacity magazines (LCMs). Delaware’s law bans the possession, sale, or transfer of certain assault weapons and LCMs holding more than 17 rounds of ammunition. California law also imposes  restrictions on large capacity magazines and assault weapons.

“We do not need weapons of war on our streets, and the use of such weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Assault weapons and large capacity magazines have been used in many horrific mass shootings around the country, including right here in California. I applaud the district court for declining to block Delaware’s commonsense gun law prohibiting assault weapons and large capacity magazines, and urge the Third Circuit to reject the effort to invalidate Delaware’s live-saving prohibitions.”

In California, it has been illegal to manufacture, import, keep or offer for sale, give, or lend LCMs with more than 10 rounds of ammunition since 2000. It has been illegal to purchase and receive LCMs since 2013. Proposition 63, which was passed by Californians in 2016, added a ban on the possession of LCMs. Since 1989, California law has restricted certain makes and models of assault weapons and, since 2000, has banned assault weapons with certain specific, combat-oriented characteristics, such as a pistol grip, folding or telescoping stock, or a flash suppressor. 

Firearms equipped with LCMs are estimated to account for up to 36% of crime guns nationwide. In mass shootings where four or more were people killed from 2015 to 2022, 60 percent involved firearms with LCMs and assault weapons accounted for a third of all mass shooting deaths and more than 80 percent of all injuries. LCMs and assault weapons have been used in numerous horrific mass shootings throughout the country, including in California with the tragic shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks in 2018, the shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in 2015, and the mass shooting in Monterey Park in 2022. While a 2019 study by Columbia University found that, “deaths in high-fatality mass shootings, relative to the population, were more than three times higher in states that did not restrict LCMs,” states such as California remain impacted by the lack of a broader federal ban on LCMs and assault weapons.

The challenge to the law was filed by the Delaware State Sportsman’s Association, which also sought to preliminarily block the law while the district court considers its constitutionality. The district court denied the motion for a preliminary injunction. In the brief filed in the Third Circuit, which can be found here, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that district court decision must be upheld because:

• The Sportsman’s Association failed to show that their proposal to possess and use assault weapons or LCMs are protected by the Second Amendment.
• Assault weapons and LCMs are not used for self-defense purposes and pose a unique danger to the public.
• Delaware’s law is consistent with the historical restrictions employed by states and the federal government to protect the safety and well-being of residents, through a range of restrictions, including prohibitions, on dangerous weapons and accessories not used for self-defense.
• Delaware is not alone in restricting assault weapons and LCMs. Currently, 10 states and the District of Columbia restrict assault weapons, and 14 states and the District of Columbia, limit magazine capacity.

Attorney General Bonta stands with partners throughout the state to continue tackling the issue of gun violence strategically and aggressively by:

• Educating the public on gun violence prevention through the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, including through the first-ever data report issued by the office to provide a robust review of gun violence data in California and throughout the U.S. and to help guide policy and strategy discussions related to reducing gun violence.

• Advocating for commonsense gun laws including by sponsoring Assembly Bill 1594 to increase accountability for the firearm industry, working to strengthen federal laws to protect the public from ghost guns, and successfully defending California’s laws to prevent gun violence.
• Seizing guns from prohibited persons in the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, and through multiagency sweeps in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County, conducting operations targeting individuals attempting to illegally purchase guns, and collaborating with local law enforcement partners.
• Ending the sale of illegal firearms through litigation against ghost gun retailers, and by putting a stop to the sale of illegal assault weapons in Orange County.