Council agrees to use weed tax revenue basic income pilot program

This story was originally published at City Desk ABQ, a NMPBS partner.

Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ

After years in the works, recreational-use cannabis excise tax revenue can now start to be reinvested into Albuquerque communities — specifically in impoverished areas and toward youth substance use prevention, treatment and recovery services.

In 2023, the City Council approved a bill to use tax revenue from marijuana sales for a permanent Marijuana Equity and Community Reinvestment Fund as a way to invest in those who have been “negatively impacted by the criminalization of marijuana.”

After multiple residents spoke in favor of the initiative during Monday’s council meeting, city councilors approved a bill that lays the groundwork for putting the money to use in the community. The bill — sponsored by Councilor Kalrissa Peña — passed on a tight 5-4 vote.

[Yes: Joaquín Baca, Tammy Fiebelkkorn, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers and Louie Sanchez

No: Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout and Dan Lewis]

“This money is aside from our budget, it’s a set amount of money that we’re going to be getting every year dedicated to really try to achieve justice where there was injustice,” Peña said.

The city anticipates the tax revenue to generate $4.02 million per year. According to Associate Chief Administrative Officer Carla Martinez, the funds will be “split equally between” the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness to partner with multiple organizations.

“We want to ensure that people don’t have to pick medicine over rent, over other things, so it is to help supplement their income,” Martinez said.

The Office of Equity and Inclusion will use the funds to create a guaranteed basic income pilot program for low-income residents in the International District and the city’s Westside — specifically to families whose children attend Whittier Elementary School and Carlos Rey Elementary School.

“The schools were picked for the areas that they are in,” Martinez said during Monday’s meeting. “One is in the South Valley, one is in the southeast and they particularly have their underrepresented, impoverished neighborhoods and so that’s why they were selected.”

According to a news release from the Office of Equity and Inclusion, two cohorts will get $750 per month for three years.

“The first cohort will consist of 80 households that will receive monthly guaranteed income support of $750 for three years. The second cohort will consist of 20 families and up to 40 opportunity youth,” the release states.

The Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness will use the funds toward seven programs mainly focusing on youth services that offer substance use prevention, treatment and recovery services. It includes programs from Youth Development Inc., the University of New Mexico’s Young Children’s Health Center and Enlace Communitario.

Some councilors raised concerns about how the departments will track the program successes or failures and if families are using the money appropriately. Martinez said the participants will fill out surveys and receive financial training and education.

“There’s the piece that is with [Office of Equity and Inclusion] related to the guaranteed basic income, and part of that will be tracking absenteeism, so hopefully, these individuals and students will not have chronic absenteeism,” Martinez said. “The other piece is that they need to participate in the Office of Financial Empowerment, so keeping track of that.”

Councilor Nichole Rogers, a proponent of the legislation, said data from other communities that have used similar programs show the additional income helps families thrive. Rogers said surveys showed participants used the money toward rent, food and transportation and that participants were fine with the temporary program because “they were able to get higher income.”

Rogers recounted a story she heard about a resident of Santa Fe — which has a basic income pilot program — who was able to buy a car with the additional money which then led to them getting a higher paying job.

“This isn’t a handout, this is a hand up to families who don’t qualify a lot of times for regular entitlement programs,” Rogers said. “We can really take a stance on poverty, because that is the root cause of a lot of the things that we’re facing in our community when it comes to homelessness, crime.”

Councilor Dan Lewis questioned why the funds are going to a guaranteed basic income, if there is an income requirement for participants and if they need to be a U.S. citizen.

Equity and Inclusion Director Sanya Lara said there is no income requirement and the office does not track U.S. citizenship, “so we wouldn’t begin tracking that there either.”

“With this work, we’d be able to follow through and make sure that people, as they are needing help and needing support while identifying gaps, we’d have the resources to help people to navigate those and give them that mentorship and support,” Lara said. “This experiment would be really informative to think about, as we pursue this on a longer term scale, how we can make adjustments and iterate from there.”

This story was originally published at City Desk ABQ, a NMPBS partner.