Legislators looking to join the Governor in trying monkeywrench the implementation of the will of the voters in South Dakota to legalize cannabis will have one opportunity in Senate Bill 35, which would appropriate $4.03 million to the Department of Revenue to implement Amendment A (legalizing everything cannabis) and $135K to the Department of Health to implement Initiated Measure 26 (medical marijuana only). SB 35 is an emergency bill, so the dollars would move the moment the Governor signs the bill.
Governor Kristi Noem included those amounts in her budget address, though not happily:
Before I dive into my recommendations, I do want to call out one budget provision related to the disappointing votes on marijuana at the ballot box this year. There are significant safety and regulatory costs associated with both the medical marijuana measure and the recreational one.
Given the latter is currently facing constitutional challenges, we’re going to have to present two courses of action. A path forward with both recreational and medical. And a second with just medical.
I want to be very clear, we will not see any revenue from marijuana until at least April of 2022. Though it could be longer.
And in the meantime, to comply with the predetermined timeline, the Department of Revenue needs to get to work now. This funding would go toward staff, technology, consultants, and other costs, until revenues from the program are enough to sustain it.
But there will also be a number of other collateral costs, like safety, training, and enforcement, among many others.
On top of this, the Department of Health has specific needs related to the medical marijuana program. My budget recommends just over $136,000 over three years to cover staff and other costs related to setting up a program. That should be enough to support program costs until revenue starts coming in.
To implement just medical marijuana, the Department of Health will need additional resources -beyond the $136 – though, the Department of Revenue would need much less.
Over the coming weeks, we hope to know more about which path we need to take [Governor Kristi Noem, budget address, Pierre, SD, 2020.12.08].
I must note that the very next words out of Governor Noem’s mouth were, “By now, I am fairly confident that people all across America know that South Dakota is open for business.” Open and business obviously are tacitly qualified terms. The Governor has proposed the dollars in SB 35, but she’ll take any excuse to withdraw that bill and deny the voters what they asked for. You can bet certain Republican sycophants in Pierre will be looking for ways to sabotage this bill and any other enabling legislation dealing with Noem’s bogeyweed.
She seems to have the backing of the S.D. Bar Association now, also, in her resistance. They recommend the attorneys NOT represent anyone interested in accepting her invitation that “we are open for business.” Maybe she should clarify that to say “We’re open for only business that I, Governess Kristi Noem okays!”
Today’s Fascist , excuse me, Republican Party are more delusional, dangerous
and corrupt than we all know.
Trump, and The Dope Queen of Delusion
have only one lane to drive in.
And, that lane allows only one way traffic.
Contempt for the will of any voter but their own.
FACISM.
And she has the gall to fly my American Flag in her office.