DENVER – A measure that would ask Colorado voters to allow the state to keep revenue from marijuana taxes is making its way through the Legislature.
House Bill 1367 – sponsored by state budget writers – would ask voters this November to approve applying $40 million of marijuana revenue toward school construction projects, $12 million for youth programs and marijuana education and $6 million for general state spending, for a total of $58 million.
The bill also would lower the marijuana sales tax from 10 percent to 8 percent, after the bill was amended Thursday night. The current tax structure also includes a 15 percent excise tax.
There is broad support for the measure in the Legislature.
“We believe that when they passed Amendment 64 and Proposition AA, the voters of Colorado intended for marijuana taxes to go to fund state priorities, not go back into the pockets of marijuana consumers,” said Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, a sponsor.
Voters might be confused because they already approved the taxes by a vote in 2013. But the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires refunds when the state’s total tax revenue exceeds estimates, including all revenue taken in by the state.
If voters reject the proposed ballot question, $13.3 million would be refunded through a sales-tax reduction, $19.7 million would go back to cultivation facilities, and $25 million would go back to taxpayers, resulting in refunds of $15 to $90, depending on income status.
Lawmakers also took up a routine measure to continue medical marijuana regulations in Colorado. But controversy surrounded the bill, as Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, R-Colorado Springs, successfully attached an amendment to the bill that would prohibit felons from legally selling medical marijuana in instances where the felony is reclassified as a misdemeanor.
Marijuana advocates assailed the proposal.
“This amendment only serves to preserve confusion for regulators and bar entry to an economic opportunity for Coloradans,” said Shawn Coleman, a marijuana lobbyist.