An Act To Fund Railroad Infrastructure and Operations
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §4210-B, sub-§8 is enacted to read:
8. Revenue from sales tax on marijuana. Notwithstanding Title 36, section 1817, subsection 7, beginning October 1, 2017, the State Controller shall transfer to the Multimodal Transportation Fund an amount, as certified by the State Tax Assessor, that is equivalent to 20% of the revenue from the tax imposed on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products pursuant to Title 36, section 1817 for the last 6 months of the prior fiscal year. Beginning July 1, 2018 and every July 1st thereafter, the State Controller shall transfer to the Multimodal Transportation Fund an amount, as certified by the State Tax Assessor, that is equivalent to 20% of the revenue from the tax imposed on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products pursuant to Title 36, section 1817 for the first 6 months of the prior fiscal year. The tax amount must be based on actual sales for that fiscal year and may not consider any accruals that may be required by law. Amounts transferred to the Multimodal Transportation Fund under this subsection must be used for the purposes of purchasing, operating, maintaining, improving, repairing, constructing and managing the assets of multimodal forms of transportation, limited to passenger marine, road surface and passenger rail transit, of the State, municipalities and multimodal providers supporting passenger rail operations. Priority investment must be targeted to those railroad corridors that could support passenger and freight operations and enhance the movement of agricultural products.
summary
This bill requires 20% of revenue from the sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products to be transferred to the Multimodal Transportation Fund to be used for the multimodal forms of transportation, limited to passenger marine, road surface and passenger rail transit, of the State, municipalities and multimodal providers supporting passenger rail operations. Priority investment must be targeted to those railroad corridors that could support passenger and freight operations and enhance the movement of agricultural products.