GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios on Monday signed into law the first cannabis revenue appropriation measure.
Authored by Rep. Diego Vincent Camacho, House Bill 23-89 is now Public Law 23-20. It appropriates $517,868.14 in cannabis revenue to the Commonwealth Cannabis Commission.
The measure’s original version allotted $380,529 for the commission’s operation expenses only.
The Senate however, amended the bill to appropriate the entire amount certified by the Department of Finance.
Citing the commission’s urgent need for funds, P.L. 23-20 states that it is “pertinent to exercise the power to appropriate those funds to allow for the commission to continue its day-to-day operations in regulating the CNMI’s cannabis industry.”
Cannabis Commission Managing Director Mikiotti Evangelista said that the Senate version of the bill would help “mitigate the shortfalls” that the commission is facing, and allow it to develop into a fully functioning regulatory agency.
