California Signs Cannabis Testing and Cannabinoid Enforcement Bills

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two cannabis bills on September 27, giving regulators a way to test products already on retail shelves and refining enforcement rules for cannabinoid products sold outside the licensed market. The measures are AB 1965, authored by Assemblymember Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins, and AB 2250, authored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.

AB 1965: Testing after products reach stores

California already requires cannabis products to pass laboratory testing before sale. AB 1965 adds a check later in the supply chain: retailers and other licensees authorized to sell cannabis must allow the Department of Cannabis Control to obtain or access products held or offered for sale for off-the-shelf testing. They must also provide a product’s certificate of analysis to a customer who requests it.

The bill permits the department to test laboratory performance to assess whether results are consistent across labs. It also revises the circumstances under which a lab may retest a sample after a result falls outside specifications and requires licensed labs to comply with department requests to evaluate their testing practices. For operators, the practical question is whether a product that cleared pre-sale testing will produce the same result when regulators obtain it at retail.

AB 2250: Changes to cannabinoid enforcement

AB 2250 adjusts provisions established by California’s 2025 AB 8, rather than creating the state’s cannabinoid framework from scratch. It expands a restriction on businesses selling cigarettes or tobacco products from making retail sales of certain cannabis and presumed cannabis products to making any sale of those products at sites where tobacco products are stored or sold. The bill also revises seizure authority concerning products at unlicensed premises.

The measure specifies that the state’s cannabis track-and-trace system captures activity across cultivation, harvest, processing, manufacturing, distribution, inventory, sale, and delivery. Beginning January 1, 2028, it also excludes qualifying cannabinol, or CBN, isolate from the definition of cannabis concentrate, alongside CBD isolate.

Together, the bills sharpen two points of enforcement: whether products on licensed shelves match their laboratory records, and how cannabinoid products are treated when sold through unlicensed channels. How regulators use these powers will matter to operators across the state. Join the conversation about California’s changing rules and their business impact at IgniteIt’s California Market Spotlight.