Marijuana Business Efficiency Measures

The bill allows the state licensing authority to authorize single-instance transfers of retail marijuana or retail marijuana products from a retail marijuana licensee to a medical marijuana licensee. If granted, the transfer must be completed within 30 days of the date the transfer was approved. A retail marijuana license that is subject to suspension is not eligible for the transfer and any retail marijuana or retail marijuana product that is subject to an administrative hold is not eligible for transfer.

Under current law, the department of revenue determines the average market rate for purposes of excise tax collection on retail marijuana every 6 months. The bill gives the department the authority to calculate the average market rate on a quarterly basis. The average market rate cannot include taxes paid on sales or transfers. The bill requires a separate average market rate for unprocessed marijuana for extraction that is lower than the average market rate for unprocessed marijuana for direct sale. The bill states that the average market rate should be used to calculate the state excise tax on affiliated transactions, and the contract price should be used to calculate the excise tax on unaffiliated transactions. The bill clarifies that the average market rate will be used to calculate the excise tax on all county, municipal, or metropolitan district transactions.

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)