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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Yolo County seeks applicants for committee overlooking marijuana tax

Applications for Cannabis Business Tax Oversight Committee due late April

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors is in the process of forming a Cannabis Business Tax Citizens Oversight Committee. The purpose of this committee is to review the annual revenue and expenditure of funds generated by the tax on cannabis businesses.

“The cannabis tax is for general governmental purposes and revenue generated from the tax can be spent for criminal enforcement of illegal cultivation, early childhood intervention and prevention, youth development, substance abuse education and treatment for children and adults, rural infrastructure and programs and cannabis research and unrestricted general revenue purposes,” according to a press release from the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

The proposal for the ordinance was approved on July 24, 2018, according to a report provided by the Board of Supervisors. It was a proponent of Measure K, the marijuana tax. However, the idea has been in the works for longer.

“I don’t have a specific date to offer, but the concept of a committee had been discussed in Board of Supervisors’ deliberations prior to the Board’s approval to put Measure K (cannabis tax) on the June 2018 ballot,” said Beth Gabor, the Yolo County public information officer, via email.

According to the Yolo County website, the tax implemented by Measure K only affects unincorporated areas of the county, not the city of Davis. There is a 4% tax on cannabis and a 5% tax on commercial cannabis products.

The ordinance itself was composed of four actions. The first action was to allow cannabis cultivation for adult use. The second was to amend the Yolo County code to allow cultivation in unincorporated areas of the county. The third action was to establish the oversight committee, and the fourth was to develop a cannabis tax expenditure plan.

The ordinance regarding the creation of the oversight committee was voted in favor by all council members.

“The cannabis business tax ordinance requires the Board, by resolution, to establish a citizens oversight committee to act in an advisory role to the Board of Supervisors in reviewing the annual revenue and expenditure of funds from the tax, including an annual expenditure plan, and reviewing an annual accounting of the previous year’s expenditures,” according to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors’ report.

According to the Board of Supervisors’ public information office, there aren’t any qualifications in the application to send to the board, as long as applicants are familiar with Section 4 of the ordinance.

“There are no qualifications, per se, but the committee is expected to perform the duties articulated in Section 4 of the enabling legislation (ordinance),” Gabor said via email.

According to the report, each supervisor will appoint one member for the committee. The committee itself will then nominate two additional members for appointment. Each committee member will serve two years, and there will be no term limits.

The report states that board members should have been selected by December 2018. However, the application deadline was pushed to March, and eventually further extended to late April.

“The deadline was extended to ensure a robust pool of applicants,” Gabor said via email. “The committee is expected to perform the duties articulated in Section 4 of the enabling legislation.”

Currently, none of the members for the board have been selected. Interested residents can apply on the Yolo County website.

Written by: Hannan Waliullah — city@theaggie.org

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