Staff: Cannabis excise, sales tax up year-to-date; allocation for control board and prevention funds still unsettled

Budget staff told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on April 15 that combined adult-use cannabis excise and sales tax receipts through March of fiscal year 2025 total about $21.4 million, roughly 19% higher than the same period last year, but warned the monthly trend may be flattening.

Budget staff (identified in the transcript as Speaker 4) said excise tax receipts through March totaled $15.1 million compared with $12.7 million in the prior fiscal year and that sales tax receipts were roughly $6.2 million versus $5.3 million a year earlier. The presentation used a monthly-updated cannabis revenue tracker to compare month-to-month and year-to-date collections.

The revenue picture matters because state law and budget practice route excise and sales tax receipts first into cannabis regulation funds, with a portion later transferred to the general fund; the Legislature’s budget then directs 30% of the transferred amount to a substance misuse prevention fund. Speaker 4 said the FY25 transfer to FY26 availability produces a net available amount of about $8.4 million under current calculations, but that a re-run of the numbers could raise that to about $12.8 million, which staff estimated would translate to roughly $3.0 million of…