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Washington Medical Marijuana Patient Database Fee Advisory Vote No. 11 (2015)

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Advisory Vote 11
Flag of Washington.png
TypeAdvisory question
TopicMarijuana
StatusMaintained Approveda
Washington
2015 ballot
Initiative 1366 - Sales taxes
Initiative 1401 - Animals
Advisory 10 - Spill taxes
Advisory 11 - Marijuana
Advisory 12 - Gas taxes
Advisory 13 - Business taxes
All 2015 U.S. measures

The Washington Medical Marijuana Patient Database Fee Advisory Vote was on the ballot in Washington on November 3, 2015, as an advisory question, where it was defeated. On the ballot, it was referred to as Advisory Vote No. 11.[1] A majority of voters voted in favor of maintaining the bill.

Voting "repealed" would have advised removing a one dollar fee charged for each initial and renewal marijuana recognition card.
Voting "maintained" would have advised leaving current laws unchanged. The one dollar fee for marijuana recognition cards would remain.

The advisory question was placed on the ballot when state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 5052 in April 2015. Washington's Initiative 960 requires a statewide vote on any tax increase the legislature passes. Advisory questions are non-binding votes that do not result in any change, but symbolically show how the general public feels on a particular issue.[2]

Election results

Washington Advisory No. 11
ResultVotesPercentage
Defeatedd Repealed 599,324 41.27%
Approveda Maintained 852,735 58.73%

Election results via: Washington Secretary of State

Text of Measure

The official ballot title was:[3]

“ The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people, the marijuana excise tax on medical marijuana sales, costing an amount that cannot currently be estimated, for government spending.

This tax increase should be:

( ) Repealed

( ) Maintained[4]

”

Other information

The section of SBS 5052 that outlines the fee reads:[1]

“ The department must charge a one dollar fee for each initial and renewal recognition card issued by a marijuana retailer with a medical marijuana endorsement. The marijuana retailer with a medical marijuana endorsement shall collect the fee from the qualifying patient or designated provider at the time that he or she is entered into the database and issued a recognition card.[4] ”

Background

See also: Washington Initiative 960

A provision of a 2007 ballot measure, Initiative 960, directly led to the placement of advisory votes on taxes on the ballot. Under that approved measure, a statewide advisory vote is required on all tax increases passed by the state legislature. Initiative 960 was sponsored by Tim Eyman and originally required a two-thirds supermajority vote in the legislature or a legally binding vote of the people to approve any tax increases or eliminations of tax credits. Though the supermajority requirement was struck down by the Washington Supreme Court in 2013, the advisory vote clause was left intact.[5][6]

Fiscal impact

The Office of Financial Management issued a 10-year cost projection with the following statement:[7]

“ This bill extends the application of the marijuana excise tax to medical marijuana sales. This will result in additional revenue from the marijuana excise tax. However, the amount of additional taxable activity cannot be reasonably estimated. Therefore, the amount of additional marijuana excise tax revenue attributed to this bill is indeterminate.[4] ”
Fiscal Year Medical Marijuana Authorization Registration Fee Medical Marijuana Consultant Certification Fee Total
2016
2017 $79,000 $472,000 $551,000
2018 $80,000 $357,000 $437,000
2019 $80,000 $357,000 $437,000
2020 $81,000 $357,000 $438,000
2021 $81,000 $357,000 $438,000
2022 $82,000 $357,000 $439,000
2023 $83,000 $357,000 $440,000
2024 $83,000 $357,000 $440,000
2025 $84,000 $357,000 $441,000
Total: $733,000 $3,328,000 $4,061,000

Information has been requested for 2016 section.

Support

The measure was sponsored by [[Ann Rivers|Sen. Ann Rivers]], Sen. Brian Hatfield and Sen. Steve Conway.

The following state senators voted in favor of SB 5052:[7]

Supporters

The 43rd district Democrats of the legislature endorsed the advisory vote, urging a yes vote.[8]

Opposition

The following legislators voted against SB 5052:[7]

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing ballot measures in Washington

The measure was sent to the ballot via the aforementioned Initiative 960.

SB 5052

The bill that Initiative 960 referred to the ballot as an advisory question is Senate Bill 5052. The bill was passed on the Washington House of Representatives on April 10, 2015 in a 60-to-36 vote. In the Washington State Senate, the bill was approved 41-to-8 on April 14, 2015. Gov. Jay Inslee (D) line-item vetoed some sections of the bill.[9]

State profile

Demographic data for Washington
 WashingtonU.S.
Total population:7,160,290316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):66,4563,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:77.8%73.6%
Black/African American:3.6%12.6%
Asian:7.7%5.1%
Native American:1.3%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.6%0.2%
Two or more:5.2%3%
Hispanic/Latino:12%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:90.4%86.7%
College graduation rate:32.9%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$61,062$53,889
Persons below poverty level:14.4%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Washington.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Washington

Washington voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in Washington, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.[10]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Washington had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Washington coverage on Ballotpedia

See also

External links

Washington 2015 General Election Voters' Guide

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Washington Secretary of State, "Second Substitute Senate Bill 5052," accessed October 7, 2015
  2. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Non-binding tax advisory votes headed to WA ballot," July 23, 2015
  3. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Voters' Guide," accessed October 7, 2015
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  5. ↑ Olympian, "UPDATE - AG: Five tax measures qualify for advisory votes on November ballots," July 16, 2013
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wasos
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Office of Financial Management, "10-year cost projection notice for Second Substitute Senate Bill 5052," accessed October 7, 2015
  8. ↑ 43rd Democrats, "2015 Endorsements and Candidate Events," accessed October 14, 2015
  9. ↑ Washington Legislature, "HB 5052," accessed July 24, 2015
  10. ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
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