The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved three amendments to an ordinance designed to regulate medical marijuana, ending any uncertainty that marijuana dispensaries may or may not have an additional six months to comply with city regulations that allow no more than 70 marijuana facilities to operate in Los Angeles.

The amendments, which were approved Nov. 24 by three separate votes, also clarified two other issues: First, that all employees of a medical marijuana facility—not just its owner or manager—will be held responsible for running the dispensary according to the law. And second, a marijuana facility may legally remain open if it either has the same ownership or management that was in place in November 2007, the cut-off date to register the dispensaries with the city and the state, or if the dispensary was registered as a California nonprofit corporation before the City Council passed the ordinance in November 2007.

Los Angeles District 14 Councilmember José Huizar was among those who voted for the three amendments to the ordinance, which he helped introduce. Shutting down medical marijuana facilities operating illegally in Eagle Rock is one of Huizar's top administrative priorities. He has said publicly on numerous occasions that a disproportionately large number of medical marijuana facilities are based in Eagle Rock.

Yesterday, Huizar voted against a controversial proposal to tax medical marijuana. The City Council approved the measure, which will be among 11 ballot initiatives during city elections on March 8. The measure was approved even though the City attorney has deemed any tax on medical marijuana as illegal on the grounds that medical marijuana facilities are nonprofit organizations and the sale of marijuana is prohibited by federal law.

"The Councilmember has said that the sale of marijuana is not allowed, according to the ordinance, so how can we tax it?" said Rick Coca, communications director at Huizar's District 14 office. Further, Huizar has also said that the ordinance does not permit the sale of marijuana—only its tightly controlled distribution by a collective or the direct cultivation of marijuana by patients.

The three amendments approved today came up before the City Council for consideration last week on Nov. 17. Today's vote was the final one, and it effectively extends by six months a Dec. 4 deadline for medical marijuana dispensaries to comply with a set of regulations that will restrict the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles to 70.

Giving marijuana dispensaries more time to comply with the law "is not going to impact on legislation," Huizar told Eagle Rock Patch last week after the Nov. 17 vote. "It's just helping us clarify the legislation—and that happens with every legislation."

The provisions of the medical marijuana ordinance have been the subject of intense litigation in the court of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr, who is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the ordinance in January.

In another important development, City Council President Eric Garcetti has invited the public to offer written arguments regarding the 11 ballot measures scheduled to appear on the March 8 ballot, according to an announcement made Wednesday by Los Angeles City Clerk June Lagmay.

The ballot measures include such issues as increased funding for the Los Angeles Public Library system, a revision of the requirements for employment with the City, and the imposition of excise tax on oil producers in Los Angeles.