HomeMy WebLinkAbout101413_ra02Regular Agenda
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners
Philip Morley, County Administrator
FROM: Carl Smith, Community Development Director
Stacie Hoskins, Community Development Planning Manager
Jared Keefer, Environmental Health Director
Joe Nole, Chief Criminal Deputy, Sheriffs Office
David Alvarez, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
DATE: October 14, 2013
SUBJECT: County response to Initiative 502 (legalized recreational marijuana use)
ATTACHMENT: I -502 Implementation Timeline
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
According to information on the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) website, they will begin
accepting applications for "marijuana licenses" on November 18, and begin issuing licenses sometime
after December 1, 2013. As legalized marijuana business operations are an entirely new kind of activity,
it is appropriate for the County government to consider its policy toward such uses.
ANALYSIS:
On November 6, 2012, Jefferson County voters approved Initiative 502 (recreational marijuana use) by
65.23 %. This percentage of approval was the second highest for Washington counties, with only San
Juan County had a greater approval rate at 68.29% .
Initiative 502 has been codified at WAC 314 -55 -005. These codes contain regulations regarding the
application for license, licensing, reporting and use controls for legalized marijuana businesses. Three
types of business operators are identified: grower, processor and retailer. The LCB has been given
regulatory authority over these three types of operators. The LCB maintains a website for implementation
of I -502 at: http://www.lici.wa.gov/marijuana/1-502. The proposed rules themselves can be found at:
hLtp://vvww.liq.wa.gov/marijuana/initiative 502 proposed rules
The LCB has determined that Jefferson County will have an initial maximum of four marijuana retailers;
one in the City of Port Townsend and three in Jefferson County. At present, there is no limit on the
number of potential grower or processor licenses that could be issued in the County.
While not the intention of this brief report to list every rule in the WAC's, a few pertinent ones include:
• The LCB will notify local governments of pending licenses and give 20 days to respond with a
Regular Agenda
recommendation to approve or deny a license (90 days for a renewal).
Licensed businesses may not be closer than 1,000 feet from the following:
o Elementary or secondary school
• Playground
• Recreation center or facility
• Child care center
• Public park
• Public transit center
• Library
• Game arcade.
• Licensed businesses cannot be within another store or a residence
• Licensed businesses must have alarm and video surveillance systems
• Licensed growing operations must be indoors or if outside, must be encircled by an 8' sight
obscuring fence.
Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Obama administration has issued a memo
to federal authorities, directing them to focus their attention on certain specific areas of enforcement,
rather than targeting individual marijuana users. Those areas include: preventing distribution of
marijuana to minors, preventing sales to cartels or gangs, preventing sales to other states where the
drug remains illegal under state law, and preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands.
Staff from the Departments of Community Development, Health, Sheriff, and Prosecutor met to
discuss this issue. The consensus of this group is that existing County regulations, in addition to the
Liquor Board controls codified in the Washington Administrative Code, are anticipated to be
sufficient for regulating legalized marijuana in Jefferson County. If experience shows additional
controls are warranted, they can be crafted to address the specific need.
FISCAL IMPACT /COST- BENEFIT ANALYSIS:
Each sale of a marijuana licensee's product to another licensee or to the public is subject to a 25% excise
tax, in addition to any applicable local sales tax. All such excise taxes are to be remitted to the Liquor
Control Board on a monthly basis. The LCB has prepared a fiscal analysis of potential marijuana
business revenues and a list of state agencies that will receive a portion of excise tax revenues from a
dedicated "marijuana fund ". This list does not include local jurisdictions.
On the positive side, Jefferson County could realize increased revenue from sales taxes collected on
the sale of marijuana products. On the other hand, local jurisdictions such as Jefferson County will be
financially impacted due to their role in implementing, regulating and enforcing provisions of the
State marijuana laws, plus local codes. The amount of such impact cannot be predicted in advance of
experience with implementing the new law.
Discuss the issue of legalized marijuana business operations and indicate any concerns.
1p Morl , ounty Adminijt for
Date
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Control Board
1.502 Implementation Timeline
The below timeline reflects the Washington State Liquor Control Board's official timeline for
implementation of Initiative 502. The Board and staff are working from this timeline going forward.
By law, the WSLCB must have the rules written by December 1, 2013. The agency is on track to meet
this deadline. If and /or when timeframes change we will communicate those changes via the WSLCB
Listsery and our agency Twitter.
Date (2013)
Milestone
September 4
File supplemental CR 102 with revised proposed rules
October 8
Seattle public hearing /special meeting on proposed rules
October 9
Spokane public hearing /special meeting on proposed rules
October 16
Board adopts or rejects proposed rules (CR 103)
November 16
Rules become effective
November 18
WSLCB begins accepting applications for all license types
December 1
Rules are complete (as mandated by law). Begin issuing Producer, Processor
and Retail licenses to qualified applicants.
For more information on the implementation of 1502 and to join our listsery to receive email updates,
please visit our website at www.lici.wa.gov.
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