A proposed law would give $125 million in pot tax revenue to nonprofits who help people with past marijuana-related arrests and convictions. Gov. Jay Inslee backs the proposal to create a Community Reinvestment Act. Sponsored by several legislators, including Rep. Melanie Morgan. “We’re addressing the mistakes of the past, and investing in people who want to have a better life and in communities that have been held back far too long,” Morgan, D-Pierce County, told fellow representatives during a committee hearing in January.
Morgan said the funds would be used in four areas: economic development, civil and criminal legal assistance, community-based violence intervention and prevention, and re-entry services for those with past pot-related convictions. ”It’s coming from righting the wrongs that were perpetuated against black and brown people with the ‘War on Drugs,’” said Morgan.
Voters approved Measure Initiative 502 in 2012 which legalized the possession, distribution and sales of marijuana. It required the State Liquor Control Board to regulate and tax the retail sale of Marijuana. Legislation in 2015 (H 2136) changed the tax rate (from 25% wholesale and retail tax) to the current 37% rate and changed the name to the Washington State Liquor and Cannibas Board. Retail sales began July 2014, with Washington became the second state to permit retail sales of recreational marijuana. Note, medical dispensaries were required to obtain a retail license after June 2016.
Medical weed is exempt from sales taxes after June 2016. The revenue coming from pot is huge. The state levies a 6.5% sales tax which allowed Washington state to collect an estimated $480.9 million in marijuana tax revenue through the first nine months of 2021. There is millions more in local taxes levied by cities and towns where recreational pot is sold in modern, swanky dispensaries.
While over time state legislators have made some changes from the original I-502. Leaders remain committed to spending more than half of the state’s marijuana revenue on public health programs. This was the ballot measure’s original intent. Washington is expected to collect more than $1 billion in marijuana sales taxes and fees over the course of its next two-year budget cycle.
“Funding from the dedicated marijuana account is essentially already spoken for … and it funds a lot of stuff that we care about,” said state Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, the prime sponsor of Washington’s drug decriminalization bill.
