L.A. council advances pot dispensary measure The Los Angeles City Council moved forward Wednesday with two measures for the May 21 ballot, one to tax and limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries and another denouncing the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that paved the way for more big spending in elections. On an 11-1 vote, the council instructed city lawyers to draw up language for a ballot measure that would permit only those dispensaries that opened before a city moratorium in 2007. The proposal, which is supported by Councilman Paul Koretz and council President Herb Wesson, would also raise taxes on marijuana sales. Two other medical marijuana initiatives qualified for the ballot earlier this month. One would allow any pot shop that meets certain requirements to operate. Like the Wesson-Koretz proposal, it would raise taxes on medical marijuana sales by 20% to pay for city enforcement. The other measure, backed by a prominent medical marijuana advocacy group and a labor union that has organized dispensary workers, would, like the City Council proposal, allow only those shops that opened before the 2007 moratorium. However, it fails to provide enough of a buffer between dispensaries and churches, schools and parks, Wesson said. "We have to have some kind of distance requirement because that's what's making the neighborhoods crazy," said Wesson, who mentioned a stretch of Pico Boulevard in his district that people call "the green mile" because there are sometimes multiple pot shops on a single block. Wesson said he hopes the city can craft a ballot measure that is attractive to the labor-led coalition supporting the second initiative. Although it is too late for that group to drop its own measure, the group could throw its support behind the city's proposal, he said. City officials will be meeting with activists in the coming days to try to come to a consensus. Don Duncan, a supporter of the labor-led ballot measure, said his coalition will back the city's initiative as long as the city compromises on several points. For one, his group would like to see the city shorten the distance requirement regulating how far dispensaries must stay from schools, churches and parks from 1,000 feet - the figure currently under discussion - to 600 feet. Duncan said he would also like the city to include language to ensure that if one portion of the ordinance were overturned by court, the remainder of the law would stand. Duncan said that while his group does not support a tax increase, "we're prepared to concede" on that issue. On a 13-1 vote, the council also ordered up a ballot measure to oppose the Citizens United ruling, which opened the door to unlimited spending in elections by corporations and other special interests. The measure, backed by Councilman Richard Alarcon, would push for passage of a constitutional amendment allowing state and federal governments to place limits on the corporate campaign contributions. If the measure passed, Los Angeles would follow in the footsteps of San Francisco, Chicago and the states of Massachusetts and Colorado, according to Anjuli Kronheim, an organizer with California Common Cause, the political watchdog organization. "The 2012 election was the most expensive presidential election in our nation's history and Citizens United played a huge role in that," Kronheim said. Overturning that would really change the game. Councilman Bernard C. Parks cast the only dissenting vote.