Legislation dedicating a 32% share of Washington’s cannabis excise tax revenue to counties and cities for hiring police and other “criminal justice purposes” has been advanced out of its initial Senate committee.
The Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce voted yesterday to move Senate Bill 6272 to the Ways and Means Committee “without a recommendation”. The measure was filed last week by Senators Mark Mullet (D) and Keith Wagoner (R).
Under current law 32% of the tax revenue garnered from the legal distribution of marijuana goes to the state’s general fund. The general fund can be used for essentially anything state lawmakers deem appropriate.
Senate Bill 6272 would redirect this 32% to go to “counties, cities, and towns, ratably on a per capita basis.” The measure states that the county “must receive that proportion that the unincorporated population of the county bears to the total population of the county and each city must receive that proportion that the city incorporated population bears to the total county population.”
Funds received under this subsection (c)(iii) may be used as follows:
(A) At least 50 percent of funds must be used solely for attracting and retaining additional commissioned law enforcement officers; and
(B) Any remaining amount may be used for criminal justice purposes – “criminal justice purposes” means activities that substantially assist the criminal justice system, which may include circumstances where ancillary benefit to the civil justice system occurs, and which includes domestic violence services such as those provided by domestic violence programs, community advocates, and legal advocates, as defined in RCW 70.123.020.
If passed by the Ways and Means Committee the measure could be considered by the full House of Representatives.
Washington legalized marijuana in 2012, tying Colorado as the first state to do so. Since then, 22 other states have done the same. Of the 24 legal marijuana states, Washington continues to have the largest marijuana excise tax at 37%.
