Pot legalization, 50-cent cigarette tax hike on Senate panel’s agenda

Senators are now tinkering with the idea of legalizing marijuana in the CNMI for medicinal and recreational use similar to Colorado, which forecasts nearly $1 billion in sales next fiscal year, while at the same time reducing to only 50 cents every three years a House proposal to immediately increase cigarette tax by $2 a pack.
These were among the topics in yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota).

Senators started touching on marijuana legalization when they were discussing Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero’s (Cov-Saipan) bill decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana and raising the monetary fines instead.

This also comes a few years after the Senate kept on rejecting or shelving bills from the House seeking to legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, or both.

Taimanao confirmed last night that both the marijuana and cigarette tax proposals are under consideration.

She said she respects committee members’ ideas. This also comes at a time when some members of the Guam Legislature are pushing marijuana legalization.

Taimanao said the Senate may now be more open to the idea of legalizing marijuana use in the CNMI, citing the Senate’s recent decision to pass for the first time a House bill legalizing casino on Saipan after years of rejecting similar proposals. Taimanao was one of four senators who voted “no” to the Saipan casino bill that became law on March 21.

Sen. Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan), a member of the Fiscal Affairs Committee, separately said the Senate legal counsel has been tasked to help research Colorado State’s marijuana legalization law.

“Yes, the committee is tinkering with the idea, whether it’s a good idea to legalize it or not. But nothing is final. Nothing is decided,” Reyes told Saipan Tribune. He added that the discussion at the Senate committee meeting had nothing to do with Ambrose Bennett.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently announced that he expects that the combined sales from both legal medical and recreational marijuana in the state will reach nearly $1 billion in the next fiscal year—bout $600 million of that is projected to come from just recreational sales, based on national media reports. Colorado stands to collect at least $134 million in marijuana taxes and fees.

Taimanao said the committee will meet again to further discuss the idea of marijuana legalization, as they formulate a recommendation and proposed amendment to a House bill decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Cigarette tax

Acting Senate president Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan) and Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), also members of the Fiscal Affairs Committee, said the panel agreed to reduce the $2 cigarette tax increase that the House proposes.

Initially, the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee recommended the $2 cigarette tax hike to be reduced to only $1, for $3 per pack for two years. Thereafter, the tax would be increased by another $1, for a total of $4 per pack.

But at yesterday’s meeting, the committee agreed to cap the cigarette tax increase at 50 cents for the first three years, and then another 50 cents after that.

Manglona said it is important that any tax increase is accompanied by strong enforcement of cigarette tax laws.

“If there’s proper tax law enforcement, then the government collects more. You add that to a 50 cents tax increase,” he said.

Yumul has reservation about a cigarette tax increase, saying the bill does not necessarily put more funds into health programs and smoking cessation programs.

If a pack of cigarettes now costs $3.75, for example, this could go up to $5.75 a pack once House Bill 18-118 becomes law. But the Senate committee said the House proposal is too steep.