When the Pennsylvania legislature approved a budget bill that the governor has since signed into law, lawmakers accidentally left medical marijuana dispensaries out of a section providing tax relief for the cannabis industry. And it’s not clear if the omission can be fixed without future legislative action.
As enacted, the marijuana provision will allow other licensee types such as growers and processors to take state tax deductions equivalent to what they’re denied under the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. But while legislators intended to include dispensaries as well, there was a drafting error that was overlooked as the bill moved through the process.
The Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB), which is responsible for formatting legislation to ensure it complies with statute, evidently returned a copy of the legislation with the dispensary omission late last month, a staffer for House Finance Committee Chairman Steve Samuelson (D) told Marijuana Moment on Monday.
“As each draft got ‘turned,’ legislative staff does their best to catch any errors. On this occasion, we missed the omission,” Committee Executive Director Mark Foreman said. “Starting in the next draft, and each ‘turn’ thereafter, it got easy to miss and more unlikely to be noticed
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