Nevada’s Legislative Interim Finance Committee has approved a $900,000 loan to the Department of Taxation to start the implementation of the adult-use cannabis market, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The loan will cover the costs associated with writing regulations and setting up the structure to administer the system of cannabis cultivation, testing, processing, and sales.
Deonne Contine, tax department director, said that if they didn’t begin the process now they wouldn’t be ready by the Jan. 1, 2018 date mandated under the voter-approved initiative. The loan will be repaid to the IFC’s contingency fund with tax revenues from retail sales.
IFC members also approved a $122,400 transfer to the state’s medical cannabis program to cover costs related to a breach of its website portal last month. Joe Pollock, deputy administrator of the medical cannabis program, said that the majority of those funds will be used to cover the state’s insurance deductible for providing credit monitoring services and notifying registrants.
Two Republican lawmakers, state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer and Assemblyman John Hambrick, voted against the loan due to President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions.
“It wouldn’t be too hard if the federal government tried to shut this all down,” Kieckhefer said.
So far, Sessions has not committed to allowing states to continue operating cannabis programs without interference from the federal government.
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