Petition for marijuana referendum is invalid, Long Beach City Council says
Long Beach City Council members said a petition seeking a referendum on opening recreational marijuana stores failed to collect enough signatures. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
Long Beach City Council members denied a petition by advocates seeking a referendum on opening recreational marijuana stores, saying verified signatures fell short.
The City Council formally rejected the petition during the March 1 meeting, citing state law, once advocates qualified for the 1,260 signatures required to make the ballot. Once petitions were verified, only about 300 signatures qualified.
Activists had collected about 700 signatures during the 45-day collection period after city officials decided to opt out of marijuana sales last year.
"The signatures did not meet the constitutional requirement. There will not be a referendum on this issue," Long Beach corporation counsel Richard Berrios said.
City Council members said they opted out of marijuana sales last year under a state deadline. The city’s opt out triggered a permissive referendum for residents to petition for the ballot, matching 10% of the city’s voter turnout during the 2018 gubernatorial election, officials said.
Signatures were required from city residents who were registered in the last election, officials said.
About half of the signatures submitted on the petition were disqualified either because voters were not registered during the last election, signatures were not Long Beach residents', signatures were not verified or were illegible, according to the city clerk.
Berrios said at the meeting that the city is not able to add a referendum to the ballot without state legislation.
Long Beach City Council President Karen McInnis said the city has not made any final decisions.
"The council always has the opportunity to opt in if it chooses. Nothing is off the table," McInnis said. "We are awaiting state guidance on how facilities will be set up and administered, as well as projections of revenue and sales tax and feedback from the community."
Activists said they were hindered while collecting signatures during a blizzard in January and a surge during the pandemic.
"We knew we had fallen short of our goal, but it wasn’t going to deter us from turning in our petition. We still wanted to make it clear a good portion of people in town are in favor of forcing a referendum on this issue," said Nathaniel Epstein of Lido Beach. "If you believe only 300 residents want retail cannabis, you’re mistaken."
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
