CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman County residents will vote Nov. 5 on a local amendment to the Alabama Constitution that would add 15% to the tax currently charged on medical cannabis products sold in the county. The current tax rate is 9% on retail sales and 9% on medical cannabis businesses.
“Medical cannabis product” is defined in the original 2023 bill as “any product lawfully sold in the county in a dispensary licensed by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.” Those voting yes on the amendment are choosing to vote for the tax, while those voting no would be voting against the tax.
As proposed, the Cullman County District Attorney’s Office would get two-thirds of the proceeds to use for personnel. The remaining one-third would be used at the discretion of the legislative delegation for mental health issues.
A bill (2023 House Bill 469) allowing the vote was sponsored by Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Good Hope; Rep. Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley; and Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview.
Asked about the estimated amount of money this measure could generate and how the money would be used, Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker told The Tribune, “The legalization of medical cannabis in Alabama is new, and the amount of revenue this ballot measure will bring is unknown.
“District attorneys do not have traditional budgets like a sheriff’s office or a town. DA’s offices are funded on a deficit – meaning that I never see a dime of my general fund budget ($463,000 last year). We make up the deficit through court costs and other fees from the courts. This is true for every DA’s office in the state of Alabama.
“By law, the money from this ballot measure would only be used to pay for personnel. Nothing else. We need more prosecutors because we have the same number of prosecutors we had 20 years ago – but a lot more cases to process. We’ve resolved nine murders since taking office last year, one of which was from 2017. By hiring more assistant district attorneys, we will be able to adjudicate cases faster, which is positive for victims, law enforcement and the accused.”
Bill sponsor Harbison told The Tribune, “I have always said I’m for allowing the citizens to have as much of a say as possible in the process, so I supported allowing a countywide vote to make the decision. I believe allowing the citizens to vote is as close as it gets to putting the issue in their hands.
“I can see that there’s more funding needed for mental health and I also see that a lot of the ways the DA’s office has been funded over the years have changed and reduced. Take the bad check fees. They have all but dried up.
“I have also heard from people who have said they would be OK with a tax on it if it’s ever allowed for recreational use, but do not support a tax since this is medical. I can understand that as well.
“I would just encourage the citizens to take everything into consideration and look at how the funds are going to be used and vote however they feel they need to.”
Chris Van Dyke, COO of WellStone, Inc., said of the potential funding, “No one has any estimates of what it will generate. WellStone is not guaranteed anything because it is at the discretion of the delegation. No one has made any plans, but there are needs to be met, such as more residential care for people with mental illness.”
Van Dyke said that no one from the legislative delegation has spoken to him yet about the funding or possible uses, though he had talked with Crocker.
Bill co-sponsor Shedd said simply, “It’s up to the voters to decide.”
For more information
Wallace State Community College will host a town hall meeting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the auditorium of the James C. Bailey Center for public discussion on Local Amendment 1. The event will be led by Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker, WellStone COO Chris Van Dyke and Cullman County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services Capt. Ed Potter. Joey Roberston of Wagon Trial Hemp Farms will also be joining the panel to discuss the vote.
Text of the proposed amendment
(a) Effective on the first day of the second month after the ratification of this amendment, there is levied, in addition to all other taxes of every kind now imposed by law, an additional tax on the sales of all medical cannabis products sold at retail in Cullman County at the rate of 15 percent of the gross proceeds of the sales.
(b) All provisions of the state sales and use tax statutes with respect to the payment, assessment, and collection of the state sales and use tax, making of reports, keeping and preserving records, penalties for failure to pay the tax, adopting rules with respect to the state sales and use tax, and the administration and enforcement of the state sales and use tax statutes which are not inconsistent with this amendment shall apply to the tax levied herein. All provisions of the state sales and use tax statutes that are made applicable by this amendment to the tax levied under this amendment, and to the administration and enforcement of this amendment, are incorporated by reference and made a part of this section as if fully set forth herein.
(c) The tax shall be collected, as the Cullman County Commission from time to time may determine, either by the commission or by any person, whether public or private, with which the commission may contract to collect the tax levied herein.
(d) All amounts collected by the commission from the tax shall be remitted by the county treasurer as follows:
- Sixty-seven percent to the District Attorney of the Thirty-second Judicial Circuit for personnel purposes.
- Thirty-three percent to the Cullman County Legislative Delegation to be used at their discretion on mental health issues.
(e) For purposes of this section, “medical cannabis product” means any product lawfully sold in the county in a dispensary licensed by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.
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