Sixty percent reduction in shared marijuana mitigation revenue in House budget

The House budget proposal included a reduction in the marijuana excise tax distributions to local governments. The reduction from $15 million per year to $6 million per year would be a 60 percent cut in expected revenue and an overall decrease in funding of $18 million for the biennium.

Rep. Tana Senn (D-Mercer Island) successfully amended the budget proposal to restore the lost revenue with the caveat that the state’s overall revenue forecast had to go up by $18 million and then the $18 million in marijuana revenue distributions would be restored.

AWC is continuing to working with Rep. Senn and others to ensure that the marijuana mitigation revenue sharing is fully restored.

Now is the time to let your legislators know that this is an important part of the city-state partnership and they need to support the full distribution of $15 million per year.

The House proposal does not change the distribution model, which provides funds to a broad group of jurisdictions under a complex distribution formula:

• 30 percent of the distribution will go to local jurisdictions with a marijuana retailer located within their boundaries based on the proportionate share of retail marijuana sales generated in the jurisdiction.
• 70 percent of the distribution will go to locals on a per capita basis with 60% going to counties and 40% going to cities. (Jurisdictions with prohibitions on marijuana businesses will not receive any funding.)