California lawmakers fail to include cannabis tax relief in budget bill

Faint hopes for California cannabis industry excise tax relief evaporated Wednesday when lawmakers failed to squeeze a freeze on the levy into a state budget bill.“It would not be a budget if there weren’t things to be disappointed about,” Democratic state Sen.

Christopher Cabaldon said during a budget hearing.“I wish we had reached an agreement on the cannabis tax increase.” ADVERTISEMENT Negotiations between Gov.

Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders in the Legislature over final details of a $321 billion spending package went well into the night Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.The so-called “budget trailer bill” that marks the beginning of the state’s new fiscal year represented the final opportunity to stave off an increase in California’s marijuana excise tax from 15% to 19% before it was to take effect July 1.

Governor made final push on behalf of cannabis In a sign of the cannabis industry’s burgeoning influence among lawmakers, Newsom and state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas supported putting an excise tax freeze in the budget trailer bill, several sources told MJBizDaily.However, the sources said, the idea was rejected by Sen.

President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, who, coincidentally, represents California’s legacy marijuana growing region, the Emerald Triangle.McGuire did not immediately respond to MJBizDaily requests for comment.

The chance that state’s legislative leaders and Newsom would come to terms with slipping the tax freeze into the budget trailer bill was always slim, observers said.Doing so would have required one of two things: Finding another source of revenue in a down budget year, a feat made even more challenging with California finances already a mess because of the deadly January wildfires in Los Angeles as well as the Trump administration cutting promised federal funding to the blue state.

Mollifying other powerful Sacramento lobbies’ discomfort...