SACRAMENTO>>A proposed Assembly Bill seeking to fix a deadline error in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act took another step forward Tuesday after unanimous approval by the Senate Government and Finance Committee.

Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, is hoping to push AB 21 to the governor’s desk as soon as possible in order to strike a set March 1 deadline that was inadvertently included in the new medical marijuana regulations requiring cities and counties to adopt medical marijuana cultivation standards or allow the state to take local control.

“Nobody intended to give local lawmakers such a short timeline to develop regulations for an industry as complex as medical cannabis,” Wood said in a statement.

Despite unanimous support Tuesday, concerns were voiced over another issue not included in AB 21.

As part of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, cities and counties have the authority to prevent medical marijuana patients from growing the drug for their personal use.

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Drug Policy Alliance have stated opposition to AB 21 unless the bill includes language that precludes local jurisdictions from banning medical marijuana from being grown for personal use, according to Wood’s office.

Wood said even though he is committed to working out the concerns of personal medical marijuana grows, it is unlikely AB 21 would be able to proceed before the March 1 deadline if the issue of the grows is added into the bill, which would likely keep the inadvertent deadline on the books even longer.

AB 21 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Health Committee next week.