Legislature expected to give state agencies extra money for starting marijuana program

Sep. 30—TUPELO — Mississippi lawmakers, if called back into a special session to pass a medical marijuana law, are expected to pass three appropriation bills to give state agencies money to kickstart the cannabis program, according to one of the lead legislators involved.

Republican state Rep. Lee Yancey of Brandon told the Daily Journal that there is broad consensus among legislators to give the Department of Revenue, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture and Commerce money in advance to implement the program.

"We're going to give them some 'get started' money," Yancey said. "Some seed money. They're going to have money to start the program, to hire employees and to purchase equipment."

The current draft of the medical marijuana bill calls for all three of those agencies to implement and oversee parts of the medical marijuana program.

But two of the three agencies heads have expressed concerns about the amount of money it would take to hire the staff and equipment needed to implement the plan.

Both Andy Gipson, the commissioner of agriculture and commerce, and Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, have expressed concerns that they may not have enough cash in hand to successfully launch the initiative.

While testifying at a medical marijuana hearing conducted by the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, Dobbs said typical programs dealing in administering licenses, such as restaurant safety inspections, are funded through license fees.

"We have grave concerns about state general fund appropriation because whenever these big pots of money get into our state general fund and there's a cut, it ends up cutting care for pregnant women and babies," Dobbs said. "And these other things get fully funded."

Gipson, a Republican, also said at a press conference this week that he has funding concerns about implementing a marijuana program.

"It's going to cost a lot of money," Gipson said. "We don't have the staff, we don't have the equipment, we don't have the vehicles."

Even if lawmakers follow through and appropriate money ahead of time for the agencies, it isn't clear how the agencies would continue to receive funding to oversee the program.

One way lawmakers could continue to fund the three agencies is simply by appropriating money each year through the general budget as needed. The other way is to have a portion of the fines, fees and taxes collected from the program go to the three agencies.

The current draft of the medical marijuana bill calls for all of the taxes, fees and fines collected on the marijuana program to go into the state's general fund.

Gov. Tate Reeves told Northeast Mississippi media outlets on Wednesday that he believes the funding concerns raised by Dobbs and Gipson are valid and should be listened to, but would give discretion to lawmakers.

"They should be brought up, but at the end of the day the Legislature is responsible for appropriating monies to state agencies to run programs that they want to run," Reeves said. "And that's just a fact."

After touring the New Way Trucking facility in Booneville, Reeves said that he still is not sure when he would call lawmakers back into a special session and he is currently weighing what additions, if any, should be put on the agenda for such a session.

taylor.vance@djournal.com