SUPERVISORS GET PLAN TO ISSUE POT ID CARDS

OROVILLE - In response to a 2004 state law, it looks like Butte
County is about to get into the business of issuing medical marijuana
identification cards.

Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will conduct a public hearing on a
wide range of fee "adjustments" sought for services provided by the
county Department of Public Health.

Among the fee adjustments is a request that public health be allowed
to start taking applications for the pot ID cards.

The proposal says applicants for the cards will be charged $56 to apply.

"Senate Bill 420 (effective Jan. 1, 2004) requires county public
health departments to implement a process for accepting, approving or
denying applications, and issuing state-produced medical marijuana
identification cards," according to a Health Department document.

The same document predicts the county will get 100 applications a year.

Phyllis Murdock, director of the county Health Department, explained
an applicant will bring in a physician's recommendation to get the ID card.

The county and the state will verify the authenticity of the
physician's document.

"If we can't verify it, we will turn it down," said Murdock, but she
went on to say the process is mandated for the county. "This is a
state of California program, and we are implementing the California
rules," she said.

The fee, according to the director, reflects what the county
anticipates will be the actual cost of doing the work, and includes a
$13 state fee in the total. The cards are good for one year and at
the end of that time the individual must apply again.

Assuming the supervisors approve the package of health fee
adjustments, one group will be getting a break on the pot ID card fees.

"Medi-Cal beneficiaries shall receive a 50 percent reduction in the
application fee upon verification of Medi-Cal eligibility," says the
paperwork that goes to the supervisors.

Murdock said the reduced fee is also a state mandate.

"The state has encouraged reduced fees for this program. It is just
the direction we are getting from the state," she explained.

Also included in the package are new fees related to school food services.

Semi-annual inspections for "box lunches or prepackaged foods" will
cost $131 for each school in a district where uch meals are prepared.
In so-called "limited preparation" operations, the inspection fee is
$284, and in "full preparation or central kitchen" facilities, the
inspect will cost $324.

"The reason that we are implementing the regulations at the time we
are now, is the schools themselves have received a new set of
guidelines that they must comply with if they participate in the
national school lunch program," said Murdock.

She said the schools will be required to have two inspections a year.

"We are charging them a flat fee and that covers both inspections for
us," she said.

Other fees that will go up if the package is approved cover such
things as TB tests that go from $10 to $22. Polio and other
immunizations will go from $10 to $14.

Murdock explained her department doesn't have a routine schedule for
reviewing fees, and the fees are not meant to generate revenue for
the department.

"We are in a cost-recovery mode," and in recent years, "We haven't
been recovering our costs as we need to."

When cost reviews happen, they usually come up in response to
"significant adjustments" because of new mandates or sharply higher expenses.

This round of fee hikes and new fees was prompted because the county
was mandated to set up a process for the marijuana ID cards, and that
provided an opportunity to recalculate a collection of fees.

"This is a prime example of when we try to get things in line," she said.

Working on the expectation the supervisors will approve the fees,
Murdock said the county would start accepting applications for the ID
cards 30 days after the vote, and would expect to begin issuing the
cards 30 days after that.

The supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Administration
Building on County Center Drive in Oroville.