There's been a lot of talk at the
House and Senate about different
groups that think the legislature
should act in regards to this issue.
So the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.
Is attempting to consolidate those
efforts into one effort and present
one referendum that will go through
the legislature come this spring.
We got it right this time.
So smart and safe is an initiative.
So that is a group that is actually
out there gaining signatures right now.
And if they gain 237,000 signatures,
then they'll just be on the ballot.
Whereas our approach is to go through
the legislature and have our adult
use on the ballot as well, but it'll
be referred there by the legislature.
One is that there are no
additional licenses added on.
There are an ad of 26 new licenses for
social equity under the Smart and Safe Act.
However, we don't think that's that's enough.
Secondarily, we also like to see the
Liquor Board control the enforcement
over the program versus the Arizona
Department of Health Services.
Again, it's just.
About enforcement at that point,
once we're transitioning to adult use.
Thirdly, we think they excise
tax might be too high to 16%.
That's on top of your flat sales
tax that's already in existence.
We're in fear that we could create a
black market type of response similar
to what's been happening in California.
And then lastly,
we'd like to see that dispensaries
cannot own or be involved in
product testing facilities.
We just don't think that they should
be involved in testing their own.
Right.
So there's a prop 105 that if the voters
vote on that and pass any initiative,
that's any initiative then takes 75%
of the legislature to change anything.
A referendum actually falls
under the exact same rules.
However, we can design some controls
into the referendum that helps the
legislature have some input going forward,
for example, one of our tenants.
For a referendum is that the Arizona
Liquor Control Board actually has the
oversight and so the Liquor Control
Board is appointed by the governor
and so there's actually some say in
regards to how they oversee the program.
This is a real issue in that we're
not going to write the law perfectly.
We didn't write the medical marijuana law
perfectly and we've been trying to make
fixes down the legislature
for the last several years.
We finally did get passed,
was testing last session,
but other than that nothing's been passed
because of the 75% hurdle.
If we were successful in the
referral and got it through
the House and the Senate,
my understanding is the governor
could potentially sign it and it
would become a legislative bill
that could be amended by those.
The legislature going forward,
but clearly that's going to be in the
governor's office hands. In the meantime.
Correct, correct.
We need to make sure that
we have the right
controls around an adult use program,
that our kids aren't buying product
out there that are under 21.
We need to make sure that
people aren't roadways are safe.
And also we need to make
sure that there's plenty,
plenty of opportunity to for
small business to participate
in what we refer to as the
green rush or the opportunity.
To enter into this exciting new
industry that's really just been
created over the last five to 10
years, overall the feeling is that
an adult use vote will pass in 2020.
The question is just to make sure
that we get the legislation right
and that's good legislation.