(AP) - A state senator from Northern California has introduced a bill that would impose a 15 percent tax on retail sales of medical marijuana.
Sen. Mike McGuire estimated that the excise tax he proposed Wednesday would bring the state over $100 million annually.
The Healdsburg Democrat's SB987 directs 30 percent of the revenues collected to the new state agency charged with enforcing the new medical marijuana licensing regulations the Legislature approved last year.
The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation would be charged with distributing the funds as grants to help local governments with the costs of enforcing the regulations.
McGuire's bill also would dedicate 20 percent of the excise tax money to running and maintaining state parks and 10 percent to county substance abuse programs.
Like other tax measures, the bill requires a two-thirds vote to pass.
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