Pubdate: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2013 The Associated Press Contact: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Author: Gene Johnson, The Associated Press DIVVYING UP WASHINGTON'S LEGAL POT TAXES Health Care Was Initial Recipient Law Enforcement, Cities May Get Funds (AP) - One selling point of Washington's new legal marijuana law was that a huge chunk of pot-related tax revenue would be devoted to health coverage for low-income residents. But under Obamacare, a would-be recipient of the pot taxes - Washington's Basic Health Plan - - is being eliminated. The plan, which provided low-cost health insurance to the working poor, is being absorbed by Medicaid and will end Dec. 31, according the state Health Care Authority. Lawmakers will need to take action if they want to rededicate the money that Initiative 502, the legal pot law passed by voters last year, intended for the Basic Health Plan. At least some of the money, which could amount to tens of millions of dollars a year when legal pot sales begin, likely in mid 2014, might wind up going toward law-enforcement costs or other uses. "It would be my hope that ... the Legislature would dedicate that money into health care," said retired state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, a sponsor of I-502. "In particular, mental health is a huge issue and hasn't been properly funded." I-502 taxes pot highly - 25 percent at least two stages and up to three, plus sales taxes. It specifies that once the money starts rolling in, every three months the state will pay $175,000 to the Department of Social and Health Services to support the state's "healthy-youth" survey and a cost-benefit analysis of the legal marijuana law. Some $5,000 goes to the University of Washington to publish online information about marijuana, and up to $1.25 million goes to the Liquor Control Board for the costs of administering I-502. Of the money that's left, half was dedicated to the Basic Health Plan. That could be a lot, based on projections that legal marijuana could bring in tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year. I-502 did not carve out a share of revenue for cities and counties, which face some of the costs of its implementation. Candice Bock, a lobbyist for the Association of Washington Cities, said that for the legal marijuana law to work, the state is going to need to crack down on the black market, and that increases police costs. It requires a two-thirds vote for lawmakers to amend an initiative in the first two years after passage. Because the upcoming legislative session is a short one, and because of the difficulty of mustering a two-thirds vote, lawmakers might not act until the following session, after pot revenue materializes, he said. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, another sponsor of I-502, said he'd like to see the money go toward health care as voters intended. But having to figure out how to spend money is better than the alternative, he said: "It's a good problem to have." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom