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Colorado lawmakers have rejected a bill that would put a measure on the state\u2019s November ballot asking voters to increase marijuana and alcohol taxes to support mental health treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n In line with a recommendation from the bicameral Capital Development Committee (CDC) last week, members of the House Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday defeated the legislation from Rep. Bob Marshall (D) and Sen. Judy Amabile (D) in a 7-6 vote.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have made our penal system the default mental health system for people that are over 18 years old. It has been a travesty,\u201d Marshall said on Wednesday before the panel\u2019s vote to reject his bill. \u201cIt\u2019s been a known travesty for years and years and years, and yet nothing happens to fix the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, this is something that needs to be done,\u201d the sponsor said of the HB 1301, which aims to hike taxes on the substances and put the additional revenue toward the creation of a mental health fund overseen by the state Department of Human Services (DHS). \u201cAnd if we don\u2019t do it now, the problem is going to get worse and worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n If the bill had advanced through legislature, voters across the state would have then decided on increasing the state retail marijuana sales and excise taxes by 0.42 percentage points each at the ballot this coming November. Alcohol taxes by volume would have also increased for the first time in more than 30 years, by varying levels depending on the product type.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill requires the treasurer to transfer an amount equal to the tax revenue raised as a result of the bill to the hospital support account that is created in the capital construction fund,\u201d a summary of the\u00a0measure<\/a> said. DHS would be able to expend the funds in \u201cpriority order,\u201d starting with the creation of a mental health institute in Aurora, then going toward operational costs for the institute and \u201clong-term civil commitment facilities\u201d in Mesa County.<\/p>\n Under amendments adopted in committee on Wednesday, the proposed tax hike for alcohol would have been slightly reduced, but not for cannabis. The bill title was also revised in response to input from the state attorney general, and a fiscal note was added to flag programmatic costs amounting to $14,000 that the sponsor said would come out of the general fund.<\/p>\n During last week\u2019s CDC meeting, Rep. Tammy Story (D), vice chair of the panel, asked House bill sponsor Marshall how he squares the proposal to hike marijuana taxes with the fact that the state has seen cannabis sales and resulting revenue slump over recent years. Marshall said he appreciated the concerns\u2014but he didn\u2019t intend to remove cannabis from the measure.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn<\/span> hindsight,<\/span> maybe<\/span> a<\/span> sales<\/span> tax<\/span> might<\/span> have<\/span> been<\/span> better,\u201d Marshall conceded on Wednesday. \u201cB<\/span>ut<\/span> it\u2019s<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> title<\/span> now\u2014<\/span>\u2018tax<\/span> on<\/span> harmful<\/span> substances\u2019\u2014<\/span>and<\/span> we<\/span> put<\/span> marijuana<\/span> in<\/span> there<\/span> at<\/span> the<\/span> suggestion<\/span> of<\/span> a<\/span> couple<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> sheriffs,<\/span> just<\/span> to<\/span> share<\/span> the<\/span> pain,<\/span> so<\/span> to<\/span> speak.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Marijuana industry representatives have\u00a0criticized<\/a>\u00a0the bill\u2019s marijuana tax provisions, in part by pointing out that the state already imposes significant taxes on cannabis sales compared to other states and commodities. Making it more expensive for consumers to purchase marijuana for licensed retailers could also undermine efforts to eliminate the illicit market, drawing buyers back to unlicensed sources where no tax dollars would be generated for the state.<\/p>\n While\u00a0the state has seen over $1 billion in marijuana sales in 2025\u2014a milestone the governor touted in December<\/a>\u2014tax revenue from cannabis sales has gradually decreased over the past five years<\/a>\u00a0as more states have enacted legalization and as intoxicating hemp products have grown in popularity. Nonetheless, cannabis is still bringing in more tax dollars compared to alcohol or cigarettes.<\/p>\n Adult-use marijuana is currently taxed at three levels in Colorado: A 15 percent excise tax, 15 percent special sales tax and 2.9 percent state general sales tax. As one of the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, Colorado saw revenue from those sales grow \u201cconsistently for the first eight years of legalization, peaking at $424.4 million FY 2020-21,\u201d a report from the state that was released last month says.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, the Colorado House of Representatives last week sent a bill to the governor that would\u00a0allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana in healthcare facilities<\/a>\u00a0such as hospitals. Advocates have been critical about changes made throughout the legislative process\u2014arguing, for example, that making it so hospitals would have the\u00a0option<\/em>\u2014rather than a\u00a0mandate<\/em>\u2014to allow medical cannabis use in their facilities fundamentally undermines the intent of the reform.<\/p>\n Gov. Jared Polis (D) also said last month that\u00a0his state should not have joined a lawsuit supporting the federal ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana<\/a>\u00a0that recently went before the U.S. Supreme Court\u2014and he personally opposes the state attorney general\u2019s \u201clegal position on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Colorado Lawmakers Reject Bill That Would Have Put Marijuana And Alcohol Tax Hike On Ballot To Fund Mental Health Treatment<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Colorado lawmakers have rejected a bill that would put a measure on the state\u2019s November ballot asking voters to increase marijuana and alcohol taxes to support mental health treatment. In line with a recommendation from the bicameral Capital Development Committee (CDC) last week, members of the House Health and HumanContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85627,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85628,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85626\/revisions\/85628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Colorado Lawmakers Reject Bill That Would Have Put Marijuana And Alcohol Tax Hike On Ballot To Fund Mental Health Treatment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"