There are just under two months left in Governor Brian Sandoval’s term, and then he will wrap up 8-years in the state’s highest office.
On Monday, Gov. Sandoval sat down with Politics NOW Co-host Steve Sebelius for a wide-ranging interview looking back on his time as the 29th governor of Nevada.
Steve’s Politics Now Co-host Patrick Walker has a sneak peek of the interview you’ll only see on 8 News NOW.
Patrick Walker: “If you pick a single politics-related question that I’m asked most by viewers, it’s ‘why isn’t the marijuana money going toward education?'”
As Politics NOW has explained in the past, a good chunk of it does, but the marijuana tax doesn’t increase the per-pupil spending amount.
Gov. Sandoval proposed a special 10 percent tax on recreational marijuana for education during his 2017 State Of The State speech.
Sandoval implemented the tax, but after budget negotiations at the end of the 2017 legislative session ended, the money was instead directed to fund the state’s rainy day account.
Although Sandoval and his administration are just weeks from leaving office, they still have the responsibility of setting up the budget for the next two years, which will then be updated by the new governor as the legislative session progresses this Spring.
In the budget Sandoval is looking to make good on his 2017 proposal:
“The budget that we just discussed that I am preparing has changed that, and we’re going to use the tax proceeds from the sale of marijuana to go directly to our K-12 education system,” Sandoval proclaimed.
Governor-elect Steve Sisolak has proposed doing the same thing during his campaign, so that will likely be one of the line items that doesn’t change off the bat unless the tax again becomes part of end-of-the-session negotiations in June.
Steve Sebelius’ 30-minute sit-down interview with Governor Sandoval will air on a special edition of Politics Now Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
