Lawmakers Earmark Marijuana Tax Revenues to Fight Firefighter Cancers
Monday, September 19, 2016 | 0
The Michigan House has approved three bills to regulate medical marijuana, one of which would fund the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund to pay benefits to firefighters who contract certain types of cancer.
House Bill 4209, which passed 83-22 and is awaiting Gov. Rick Snyder’s signature, would impose a new tax and establish a state licensing system to grow, process, sell, transport or test marijuana, the Associated Press reported.
Legislative economists have no estimates of the tax revenues that may be generated, but the legislation calls for 30% of the proceeds to go to the state’s general fund next year and then to the firefighter fund starting in 2018.
Lawmakers created the firefighter presumption fund in 2014 but put no money in it. A one-time, $1 million infusion recently allocated by the Legislature goes into effect Thursday.
Michigan’s law is a rebuttable presumption that cancer of the respiratory tract, bladder, skin, brain, kidney, blood, thyroid, testicles, prostate or lymphatic system is compensable.
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