Was I-502 Tax Money Not Distributed as Voters Intended?

http://420leaks.com/October 2, 2015
\t420leaks I-502, Washington State Liquor Control Board
\t
By John Novak


It appears that no tax money was ever paid out as intended by the
voters for I-502. The WSLCB has stated in a public records request
response that they"ve "…performed a search of our records including
inquiry to the Finance Division for the WSLCB. We have discovered no
records that are responsive to this request, as the Finance Division has
indicated to us no such disbursements have occurred to date.”

No disbursements?


Where did the money go? That"s over one year"s worth of
tax money, around $70 MILLION, promised to different stakeholders that
endorsed and supported the initiative during the I-502 campaign.


Two days
after this response from the WSLCB, I see this headline:



Vancouver to receive $790,000 in pot excise taxes



What happened to the $70 million collected the first year?


"According to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board, the
total marijuana sales (sale price plus tax) from July 1, 2014, through
June 30, 2015, tallied almost $260 million. Of the $6 million in
marijuana excise taxes Washington state will distribute this fiscal
year, cities will receive 40 percent, and the counties will receive 60
percent.”


So the WSLCB has been sitting on it until the legislators
changed the statutes so law enforcement and the cities would get your
tax dollars instead.

That is not what the voters wanted back in 2012 and
unless they plan to pay those original earmarks this sounds to me like a
fraud on taxpayers. Although with the way laws are written, it"s
probably legal.The question is, who decided this policy of withholding
funds and when was it decided? What about the other $63
Million?According to the initiative as passed by the voters, the WSLCB
has control over these funds…


NEW SECTION. Sec. 26.
(1) There shall be a fund, known as the dedicated marijuana fund, which
shall consist of all marijuana excise taxes, license fees, penalties,
forfeitures, and all other moneys, income, or revenue received by the
state liquor control board from marijuana-related activities. The state
treasurer shall be custodian of the fund.

(2) All moneys received
by the state liquor control board or any employee thereof from
marijuana-related activities shall be deposited each day in a depository
approved by the state treasurer and transferred to the state treasurer
to be credited to the dedicated marijuana fund.

(3) Disbursements from
the dedicated marijuana fund shall be on authorization of the state
liquor control board or a duly authorized representative thereof.


Section 28 lays out how the tax money will be used…


NEW SECTION. Sec. 28.
All marijuana excise taxes collected from sales of marijuana, useable
marijuana, and marijuana-infused products under section 27 of this act,
and the license fees, penalties, and forfeitures derived under this act
from marijuana producer, marijuana processor, and marijuana retailer
licenses shall every three months be disbursed by the state liquor
control board as follows:

(1) One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars to the department of
social and health services to design and administer the Washington state
healthy youth survey, analyze the collected data, and produce reports,
in collaboration with the office of the superintendent of public
instruction, department of health, department of commerce, family policy
council, and state liquor control board. The survey shall be conducted
at least every two years and include questions regarding, but not
necessarily limited to, academic achievement, age at time of substance
use initiation, antisocial behavior of friends, attitudes toward
antisocial behavior, attitudes toward substance use, laws and community
norms regarding antisocial behavior, family conflict, family management,
parental attitudes toward substance use, peer rewarding of antisocial
behavior, perceived risk of substance use, and rebelliousness. Funds
disbursed under this subsection may be used to expand administration of
the healthy youth survey to student populations attending institutions
of higher education in Washington;

(2) Fifty thousand dollars to the department of social and health
services for the purpose of contracting with the Washington state
institute for public policy to conduct the cost-benefit evaluation and
produce the reports described in section 30 of this act. This
appropriation shall end after production of the final report required by
section 30 of this act;

(3) Five thousand dollars to the University of Washington alcohol
and drug abuse institute for the creation, maintenance, and timely
updating of web-based public education materials providing medically and
scientifically accurate information about the health and safety risks
posed by marijuana use;

(4) An amount not exceeding one million two hundred fifty thousand
dollars to the state liquor control board as is necessary for
administration of this act;

(5) Of the funds remaining after the disbursements identified in subsections (1) through (4) of this section:

(a) Fifteen percent to the department of social and health services
division of behavioral health and recovery for implementation and
maintenance of programs and practices aimed at the prevention or
reduction of maladaptive substance use, substance-use disorder,
substance abuse or substance dependence, as these terms are defined in
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, among middle
school and high school age students, whether as an explicit goal of a
given program or practice or as a consistently corresponding effect of
its implementation; PROVIDED, That: (i) Of the funds disbursed under (a)
of this subsection, at least eighty-five percent must be directed to
evidence-based and costbeneficial programs and practices that produce
objectively measurable results; and (ii) Up to fifteen percent of the
funds disbursed under (a) of this subsection may be directed to
research-based and emerging best practices or promising practices. In
deciding which programs and practices to fund, the secretary of the
department of social and health services shall consult, at least
annually, with the University of Washington"s social development
research group and the University of Washington"s alcohol and drug abuse
institute;

(b) Ten percent to the department of health for the creation,
implementation, operation, and management of a marijuana education and
public health program that contains the following: (i) A marijuana use
public health hotline that provides referrals to substance abuse
treatment providers, utilizes evidence-based or research-based public
health approaches to minimizing the harms associated with marijuana use,
and does not solely advocate an abstinence-only approach;

Sources:

One Year Of Legal Marijuana Generated $70 Million In Tax Revenue For Washington State

Posted: 07/06/2015 6:50 pm EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/06/washingto...

Vancouver to receive $790,000 in pot excise taxes

Published: October 1, 2015, 6:36 PM

http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/oct/01/vancouve...

House Bill 2136 (Effective date 7/1/2015) - Concerning comprehensive marijuana market reforms to ensure a well-regulated and taxed marijuana market in Washington state.

http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2015-16/Pdf...



Initiative 502 – Full copy of the initiative as passed by voters in November, 2012

http://www.newapproachwa.org/content/initiative

Full response from the WSLCB via email about my public records request:

From: missy.norton@lcb.wa.govTo: changingplanet@hotmail.comSubject: FW: Amended Request RE: WSLCB PRR 15-07-123Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 22:15:29 +0000Dear Mr. Novak:This letter further responds to your public records request. The
Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) received the attached
public records request from you on July 22, 2015. We first wrote to you
regarding your request on July 29, 2015. We received your amended
request on July 30, 2015.You
have phrased your amended request as follows: "This is a public records
request for all official public records of disbursement of funds, any
warrants, vouchers, receipts, checks issued and communications about
same under I-502. The dates I am requesting is everything between
January 1, 2012 to present, in electronic format, if possible.” You also
attached as a reference two statutes: RCW 69.50.540 ("Marijuana excise
taxes – Disbursements”) and RCW 40.14.010 ("Definition and
classification of public records”). We interpret your request as seeking
"any warrants, vouchers, receipts, checks issued and communications”
pursuant to RCW 69.50.540 ("Marijuana excise taxes – Disbursements”).We
have performed a search of our records including inquiry to the Finance
Division for the WSLCB. We have discovered no records that are
responsive to this request, as the Finance Division has indicated to us
no such disbursements have occurred to date.If
you wish to rephrase and submit a different request for identifiable
records in the future, we would be pleased to process that request as we
have in the past. We have neither redacted nor deleted any record that
is responsive to your request as we have interpreted it, and again we
respectfully deny the rephrased request that you submitted on or about
July 22, 2015, as no disbursements have occurred under the statutory
basis that you provided.




If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
Sincerely,Missy Norton
Records Manager Office – 360-664-1693/Fax – 360-664-9689 mka@liq.wa.gov