Politics

Lawyer: Effort to repeal Colorado’s legal pot law is ‘unconstitutional’

Greg Campbell Contributor
Font Size:

An attempt by some state lawmakers to repeal Colorado’s historic marijuana legalization amendment if voters don’t approve a 30 percent tax to finance oversight of the industry is unconstitutional, according to lawyers for a group of advocates fighting the proposal.

In a three-page memo, attorney Ed Ramey wrote that tying a repeal of Amendment 64 to voters’ failure to pass a tax measure violates a constitutional provision that in odd-numbered years, only matters of finance and taxes can be referred to the ballot.

Repealing a constitutional amendment is not a financial issue and “would likely face post-adoption invalidation by the courts,” he wrote.

The repeal attempt, which has yet to be introduced, came to light last week as lawmakers struggled with how to tax recreational marijuana.

Colorado voters must approve all new taxes. If they reject the proposed 15 percent excise tax and 15 percent special sales tax, the state must fund industry oversight from the General Fund rather than through marijuana-generated tax revenue.

Opinions vary as to how appropriate the taxes will be — since no state has taxed and regulated marijuana, there is no data on market or pricing expectations.

A recent report by Colorado State University concluded that even the 30 percent tax wouldn’t be sufficient to cover regulatory costs.

But supporters of Amendment 64 say a 15 percent special sales tax is too high. They point to a recent poll that showed 77 percent of respondents would support a 10 percent special sales tax.

Republicans are in favor of the lower rate, but House Democrats tried late last week to amend the tax bill to allow for future legislatures to raise it to a maximum of 15 percent.

At least one lawmaker believes this to be just a ploy to gain favor with voters, with the intent to then raise the rate as soon as the next session begins.

“It’ll be set at 10 percent for one day, then after Jan. 1, the legislature after that one day will have the ability to raise this back up to 15,” Republican Rep. Brian DelGrosso is quoted as saying in the Colorado Observer.

Taxing pot is just one marijuana legalization issue among many that lawmakers must grapple with before the session ends May 8. They must debate and vote on regulations for everything from seed to sale or face the prospect of a costly special session continuing into the summer if they don’t meet the deadline.

An attempt to craft a ballot question to repeal Amendment 64 has an even steeper challenge, requiring two-thirds of each Democratic-controlled legislative chamber before it’s referred to the Secretary of State, who must certify it before it appears on the ballot.

That too could come under challenge, Ramey writes, noting that the constitutional conflicts he outlined in his memo would open the door to opponents filing an injunction.

Amendment 64 supporters said the legal opinion strengthens their argument that an attempt to repeal marijuana legalization would be “ill-considered,” as proponent Eric Sederberg said in a statement.

“The legislature shouldn’t be playing games with these important new excise and sales taxes by tying them to a separate vote on repeal of Amendment 64,” he said. “This would only encourage opponents of Amendment 64 to vote no on the tax in the hope of repeal. In fact, the only possible way a marijuana tax measure will fail is if it is done as part of such a repeal scheme.”

Follow Greg on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

 

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel