Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – When the 2023 regular session convenes on January 9, there will be 13 new members in the Arkansas Senate.

The legislature is a citizen legislature, and the senators’ occupations reflect the Arkansas economy. The Senate has cattle ranchers, chicken growers and row crop farmers. It has bankers, accountants, attorneys, educators and people who own their own businesses. One senator is a pastor and chaplain for people in hospice care.

There are senators who work in the timber industry, health care, long-term care, employment services, graphic design, real estate development and construction. 

Their experience is varied and extensive, including service on city councils, county quorum courts, school boards, development districts and state government.

Each senator represents about 86,000 people.

The political breakdown is 29 Republicans and six Democrats. Five senators are women and four senators are African-American.

The 13 new senators will be the largest freshmen class in the 35-member Senate since 2011, when 14 senators began their first regular session. One of those 14 newcomers had limited experience because he had been elected in a special election and served in the Senate during the 2010 fiscal session. The 2011 session was his first regular session.

Fiscal sessions are not nearly as hectic as regular sessions. In a typical fiscal session fewer than 300 budget bills are considered and work is completed within several weeks.

In a typical regular session, the legislature works for several months and considers about 2,000 bills affecting state government, law enforcement, education, health care, insurance, transportation and economic development.

During the regular session, senators will meet in committees to review in detail proposed bills. The nine standing committees are State Agencies and Governmental Affairs; Judiciary; Insurance and Commerce; Education; Revenue and Taxation; City, County and Local Affairs; Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development; Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs and Public Health, Welfare and Labor.

The Joint Budget Committee has members from the Senate and House. It will review in detail all state agency spending requests and meets more often than any other committee during regular sessions. 

Also during the 2023 regular session the Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs will review numerous bills affecting public pension systems.

The Senate experienced historic turnover in 2001, when 17 senators were newcomers, and in 2003, when there were 16 newcomers. Those years reflected the impact of the first version of a term limits amendment to the state Constitution, which was first approved by Arkansas voters in 1992.

The amendment took effect for about half of the senators in 2001, when they would have come up for re-election except they were prohibited due to term limits. The amendment took effect for the remaining senators in 2003, when it prohibited them from seeking re-election.

The 100 members of the House of Representative serve two-year terms and all 100 seats are contested every election year.

Senators serve four-year terms, and half of the 35 seats are contested in every election year. That means if 17 seats are contested during one election, then 18 seats are contested at the following election. Another difference between the Senate and the House is that gubernatorial appointments are confirmed by the Senate.

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – Legislators finished the calendar year with a final round of recommendations for spending federal relief funds and reserve funds.

The recommendations include using another $93.8 million for broadband projects and $20 million to upgrade computerized case management for the state court system.

Also, $6.25 million was recommended to help cover the expenses of opening the new Sevier County Medical Center.

The subcommittee also recommended using $75 million from reserve funds for expansion of a prison unit in Calico Rock. It would add space for 498 beds.

Sevier County has been without a hospital since 2019, when the previous one at DeQueen closed. Since then, voters in Sevier County approved raising their sales tax by half a cent to back a bond issue for new hospital construction.

Rural hospitals have been hard hit by the pandemic and have submitted numerous requests for financial aid. The subcommittee decided to hire an independent firm to analyze requests from as many as 26 rural hospitals.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts has been installing a computer system over the past two years, and will be able to accelerate the process with the $20 million allocation. Updating technology used in Arkansas courtrooms should improve collection of fines, fees and restitution. It will make enforcement of court orders more efficient, an official at the courts told legislators.

A modern digital system can send messages to people reminding them of scheduled dates in court and due dates for fines and other payments. In Arkansas more than 1.2 million court cases are processed every year.

The funding of broadband projects is part of a massive state investment to provide high-speed Internet access to all areas of Arkansas. Almost $400 million in grants have been awarded for 163 projects by the Arkansas Rural Connect program.

The actions were taken by the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee (PEER) of the Legislative Council. Its agenda has been lengthy and its meetings well attended since it became the legislative panel that considers requests for federal relief aid.

A steering committee appointed by the governor makes initial recommendations, but the legislature has the ultimate authority under the state Constitution for government spending. 

Arkansas received more than $1.5 billion in American Rescue Plan relief funds. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars in other categories have been designated for Arkansas recovery projects. The PEER subcommittee has seen its workload grow significantly due to the amount of relief funds flowing into Arkansas and the number of proposals for spending it.

At the final PEER meeting of the year, legislators expressed differences of opinion about how to prioritize the remaining applications for relief funds. State finance officials estimate that less than $300 million in relief funding is left to allocate. However, PEER has more than $700 million in requests for funding.

Some of the most heated comments were made when legislators discussed funding requests that were not approved. Some senators on PEER disagreed with proposals to fund localized projects based on negotiations among influential legislators, because it would not be fair to applicants and lacks transparency.

The senators prefer a grant system that allows communities to apply for grants, and the applications are awarded on merit or need.

 

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – The state Natural Resources Commission has awarded $270 million in grants for 157 drinking water and wastewater projects in 58 counties.

Work will begin in 2023 on the projects and they must be completed before the end of 2026. Money for construction comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, a massive federal emergency funding law meant to help state and local communities recover from the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

The governor appointed a steering committee to determine how best to spend the more than $1.5 billion in federal relief funds coming to Arkansas. A working group within the steering committee focused specifically on water and infrastructure needs. It conducted a survey of needs and garnered more than 1,400 responses that identified about $5.2 billion in needs.

When legislators heard from local water officials, several officials said that it was unreasonable to expect the entire list of projects to be funded.

However, they urged legislators to quickly create a grant program to address the most pressing needs, and to allow construction to begin before inflation cut more deeply into their spending power.

The approved projects include $135 million for 105 projects for clean drinking water systems that serve 170,000 customers. The median household income for those customers is $34,218 a year.

The remaining $135 million will be spent on 52 wastewater projects that will serve 283,000 customers. The median household income for those customers is $42,533 a year.

According to an official with the Natural Resources Commission, the wastewater projects will help purify 162 million gallons of wastewater every day.

Some entities applied for both a drinking water grant and a wastewater grant, and 14 systems received a grant in both categories. In all, 119 entities applied for grants.

Of the 105 clean drinking water projects, 22 will extend service to areas that now are not served by a water system, 43 projects are designed to reduce the use of groundwater and 63 projects will help local water systems comply with clean water laws.

Of the 52 wastewater projects, six will extend service to areas that now lack service and 21 will improve water quality in waterways that are now classified as impaired. Forty-two projects will improve water quality in watersheds used for drinking water, resulting in improvements to the public health of the community.

Forty-four projects will reduce nutrients in waterways, such as fertilizer runoff from farms and food processing plants.

For most of the applications, the local water system must match the grant funds by putting up 25 percent of the costs of the projects.

The Commission compiled a waiting list, in the event that grants are not awarded due to an applicant failing to comply with conditions, such as missing deadlines.

Only a few applicants received the maximum award of $5 million.

In July the legislature’s Joint Committees on City, County and Local Affairs heard from managers of water and wastewater systems about the need to finance infrastructure projects. 

In September the full Legislative Council voted to dedicate the funding to water projects, and directed the Natural Resources Commission to set up an application process. The Commission received 882 applications for $1.3 billion in grants.

 

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas has been developing a statewide response to the growing health crisis created by Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

During the 2023 session the legislature will consider a series of proposals brought by the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Advisory Council, which was created by Act 319 of 2021.

Measures include enhancement of services for caregivers. Many wear themselves out physically caring for loved ones, and many receive no compensation for the long hours they devote to care.

Although most people have heard of Alzheimer’s disease, public awareness campaigns are necessary to improve early detection, and educate people about the early warning signs. Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, there are treatments that can slow its progression and soften the impact of its symptoms.

State governments began responding to Alzheimer’s in the 1980s, and their responses amplified as public health officials became more aware of the wide-ranging effects of the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of all dementia cases. Dementia is a general term to describe loss of memory and mental abilities. There is no single test for Alzheimer’s. Physicians rely on blood tests, scans, interviews with family members and tests of memory and cognitive skills.

How a person gets Alzheimer’s is not known exactly. The major risk factor is old age. It can run in the family. Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease may be risk factors. That means you may be able to ward off the disease by exercising, keeping mentally active and eating healthily.

The most common early symptom is the inability to remember newly learned information. Other warning signs include difficulty completing familiar tasks, losing things, being disoriented, withdrawal from social activities, no longer being able to plan ahead or work with numbers, changes in judgment and decision making that are out of character and finally, mood swings and personality changes.

In Arkansas, an estimated 93,000 people provide unpaid care to loved ones with Alzheimer’s. The majority are women and two-thirds are older than 50, so the physical challenges of caregiving are daunting. The majority of caregivers have been providing care for more than four years.

Caregivers have to leave work early or take time off. They lose benefits and have to turn down promotions. Due to the demands of caregiving, nine percent have had to quit work entirely and 18 percent have had to leave a full-time job and take a part-time job.

In 2020 about 58,000 Arkansans had Alzheimer’s and by 2025 that will increase to 67,000 people, in part because of the general aging of the population.

It is expensive to care for Alzheimer’s patients, more so than caring for people with cancer and heart disease.

Patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia tend to have more incidents entailing higher costs for coronary artery disease, diabetes, strokes, chronic kidney disease and cancer.

Overall, people without dementia don’t need care as often for those same medical conditions as do people who also suffer from dementia.

For people 65 and older with dementia, the rate of hospitalization is twice what it is for people who don’t have dementia. It is 538 hospital visits for every 1,000 people compared to 266 hospital visits per 1,000 people.

 

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas lawmakers have begun pre-filing bills in advance of the 2023 legislative session, which begins on January 9.

At the beginning of the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, two bills had been pre-filed by senators and 10 bills had been pre-filed by members of the House of Representatives.

The first two bills filed were Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 1002, which are identical versions of legislation to reform parole laws and require truth in sentencing. They are so-called “shell bills” because at this point they only contain a title and a paragraph that outlines their general purpose.

Public safety will be a major issue during the 2023 session. The legislature is expected to consider proposals to add space in state prisons, particularly for inmates in maximum security units.

Also expected are measures to tighten parole regulations, because of the growth in the number of serious crimes committed by inmates out of prison on parole. Truth in sentencing laws provide jurors with more accurate estimates of the length of prison sentences, and can be written to focus on repeat, violent offenders.

During criminal trials juries may sentence an offender to a lengthy sentence, but he serves only a portion of the original sentence because it gets shortened for good behavior.

In September the Department of Correction announced that it would release 369 male inmates on parole over 90 days because of a lack of space. In May the department released 387 inmates, using a state law known as the Emergency Powers Act that authorizes it to reduce prison overcrowding.

Capacity in state prisons is about 15,000, and on an average day an additional 2,000 convicted offenders are held in county jails waiting for space to become available in a state unit. The cost of holding state inmates in county jails has long been an issue between county officials and the state.

County sheriffs would like higher reimbursements for each inmate they must house. Also, sheriffs have told lawmakers they are now holding more serious offenders than in the past, which creates more danger of violence for deputies, staff and people being held in in jail on minor charges.

Four House bills would require Medicaid to cover more procedures. One House bill would affect businesses that subsidize expenses for employees who leave the state to get an abortion. The bill would require those businesses to also provide 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.

The sponsor said that the bill was meant to discourage attempts to circumvent the strong anti-abortion laws in Arkansas.

HB 1004 would require sex offender registration to include more details about the offender’s physical address, such as apartment numbers and suite numbers. It also would require more details about the address of the employer of the sex offender, if he has a job.

The numbering of pre-filed House and Senate bills began with “2” because in each chamber the first bill is traditionally an appropriation to authorize paying the expenses of the session.

Two years ago, HB 1001 appropriated $1.975 million for House expenses and SB 1 appropriated $1.35 million for Senate expenses of the 2021 regular session. They included salaries of legislators and staff, maintenance and operations.

 

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – Funds are now available from the settlement of a massive lawsuit against opioid distributors, and will be awarded to projects that have demonstrated effectiveness in combating the abuse of painkillers.

The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership has set up a website with information about how to apply. It has an advisory board that will review applications. The Partnership’s director previously served as state Drug Director for five years.

The Partnership is a combined effort of the Arkansas Association of Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League, which joined in the litigation against opioid distributers.

Arkansas was awarded $216 million in the settlement. That money will be divided evenly between cities, counties and the state and will be gradually paid out over the next 18 years. The settlement was announced a year ago, after four years of litigation that resulted in a $26 billion settlement that will be distributed nationally.

So far, Arkansas has received about $10 million from the first stage of the settlement. At a recent news conference the Partnership director said that more settlements with other pharmaceutical companies may increase the total amount Arkansas gets from lawsuits over opioid sales.

The dispensing rate for opioids is very high in Arkansas. In Arkansas in 2022, for every 100 people in the state more than 80 prescriptions were filled. That is an improvement over 2018, when more than 93 prescriptions for painkillers were prescribed for every 100 Arkansas residents.

The dispensing rate was even higher in some counties. In 2018, in Garland County 126 prescriptions were dispensed for every 100 residents.

The number of people who have died from an overdose increased from 180 in 2019 to 261 in 2020 and 371 in 2021.

The fatal overdoses are not caused just by abuse of illegal drugs, but are commonly from abuse of legal prescriptions. Arkansas is second in the nation, behind Alabama, in the overprescribing of prescription opiods.

After states and local governments joined in lawsuits against major drug companies, the prescribing of opiods tapered off between 2012 and 2020, when dispensing rates fell to the lowest level in 15 years. 

However, even after the decline, 3.6 percent of all counties in the United States had a dispensing rate of more than one prescription of painkiller for each resident in the county.

Nationwide, the dispensing rate has gone down from a peak in 2012 of 81.3 prescriptions for every 100 people. In 2020 the national rate was 43.3 prescriptions for every 100 people.

One announced goal of the Partnership is to make Naloxone more available among first responders and groups that work to abate opioid abuse. It is a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose. 

The 12-member advisory board includes a school board president, a county judge, a mayor, a physician whose specialty is pain medicine, a retired police chief, sheriff, a grant writer, staff and former staff of opioid abatement projects and an attorney knowledgeable about the settlement of the opioid lawsuit.

The board also has representatives from the Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties.

 

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

November 4, 2022

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas received good news from federal regulators that allows the state Medicaid program to better help women during at-risk pregnancies and other at-risk populations.

Last year Medicaid provided medical services to 12,500 Arkansas women with high-risk pregnancies.

The availability of more benefits will extend also to veterans aged 19 through 30, and to people in rural areas who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness or a substance abuse disorder.

Another group that will benefit are young people from 17 through 27 years of age who have been in foster care, young people 19 through 24 who have been incarcerated and young people aged 19 through 24 who have been in the custody of the state Youth Services Division.

State Medicaid officials had asked for permission from federal agencies to implement the new services, targeted at some of the state’s most vulnerable people. 

The permit came in the form of a waiver for the Arkansas Medicaid expansion program known as ARHOME. At the beginning of September ARHOME had 339,297 enrollees.

The waiver allows ARHOME to emphasize services for specific vulnerable populations, and as a result Arkansas residents will hear a lot more about Life360 HOMEs, the name of the newly designed programs.

Maternal Life360s will serve pregnant women. Rural Life 360s will serve people in rural areas suffering from mental illness or substance abuse. Success Life 360s will help young people who have been in foster care, jail or the juvenile justice system. Also, it will serve young veterans at risk of being homeless.

Hospitals coordinate a variety of services that enrollees receive. For example, they will provide a nurse to visit the homes of pregnant women, during their pregnancies and for up to 24 months after the baby is born. They will get funding for counselors to help people with mental illness, and to set up acute crisis units.

Acute care hospitals can contract with local organizations that have experience working with young people at risk of leading a life of poverty. Those youths typically go through foster care and the juvenile justice system.

People receiving services under the Life360 may be referred to homeless shelters, churches or faith-based organizations.

The state’s Medicaid expansion program has had several names since its initial creation. It was called the private option when the legislature first approved it in 2013. 

Unlike the traditional Medicaid program, the private option and subsequent versions uses government funds to subsidize private health insurance for eligible people. For example, ARHOME 

The second version of Medicaid expansion was called Arkansas Works, because it first had a requirement that in order to receive services an enrollee must either work or look for work.

An individual with income of more than $12,888 a year must pay a $13 monthly premium to help cover the cost of ARHOME health insurance. Medicaid pays the rest. Also, enrollees must pay up to $60 a quarter in co-pays. 

Co-pays are generally $4.70 for a doctor visit. Generic medications are $4.70, and specialty drugs are $9.40. There are no costs for some services, such as preventive care and vaccines.

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – A panel of three federal judges dismissed portions of a lawsuit filed against state officials, in which plaintiffs argue that the legislature violated the federal Voting Rights Act last year when it drew new maps for the state’s four Congressional districts.

The lawsuit contends that the new map dilutes the strength of African-American voters by splitting Pulaski County among three separate Congressional Districts. 

Traditionally, Pulaski County has been entirely within the Second Congressional District, along with several other counties in central Arkansas.

Every 10 years the state legislature draws a new map of Congressional district boundaries. They reflect population shifts as indicated by fresh data from the U.S. Census, which occurs every 10 years. 

Arkansas continues to have four Congressional districts. New York and California lost one of their Congressional districts. North Carolina added a Congressional seat and Texas added two because of population gains.

Using the most recent census data, the legislature drew new Congressional district maps during last year’s regular session. The map was debated vigorously, and soon after it was approved it was challenged in federal court. Plaintiffs are residents of Pulaski County and include an African-American senator and an African-American representative.

The legislature put areas of southeastern Pulaski County in the Fourth Congressional District, which includes most of southern and western Arkansas.

Legislators drew parts of eastern Pulaski County into the First Congressional District, which covers most of eastern Arkansas and much of northern Arkansas.

“What we can say at this stage is that the plaintiffs are a few specific factual allegations short of pleading a plausible vote-dilution claim," the judges' ruling said.

The panel of federal judges said that the plaintiffs’ case lacked enough evidence of racial motivation by legislators who drew the new map. They granted the plaintiffs 30 days in which to gather more evidence and file an amended complaint.

The judges dismissed the governor and the state of Arkansas as defendants in the legal challenge. The only defendant now is the Secretary of State, the top election official in Arkansas.

Lawyers for the state attorney general defended the new map before the three-judge panel. After the ruling, the attorney general told the media that she “is pleased the court recognized the lack of evidence and dismissed the suit in part."

Medicaid Fraud

            During the federal fiscal year that just ended, the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit made 51 arrests and secured 33 convictions of people who had attempted to defraud the Medicaid system. 

            The offenders had to pay back $42.5 million in civil settlements, fines and court-ordered restitution. Those figures are a record for Arkansas.

            Medicaid is a government health care program that provides coverage for senior citizens in nursing homes, poor families and children in low-income families, and people with disabilities.

            Fraud occurs when providers file false claims for reimbursement, in which they report to Medicaid that they have provided medical services that they did not actually provide.

            The attorney general’s office also obtained $159,000 in civil penalties from facilities that committed abuse or neglect of senior citizens.

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – Legislators have begun budget hearings in preparation for the 2023 regular session.

Members of the Joint Budget Committee and the Legislative Council will review in detail all spending requests by state agencies.

The governor will present a balanced budget plan on November 10 that legislators will consider before they recommend spending levels for state government. At the same time the administration will update its economic forecast for the remainder of this year and next fiscal year.

Final approval of the state budget will occur during the regular session, which begins January 9. It will set spending levels for Fiscal Year 2024 begins on July 1, 2023.

The state’s general revenue budget for this fiscal year is about $6 billion. Legislative leadership has said that the main focus during budget hearings will be on education, human services and corrections.

A major element of education funding will be teacher pay raises. The Senate Education Committee has spent months preparing an adequacy report that sets funding levels for public schools. The committee recommended that next fiscal year teachers receive pay raises of $4,000 a year, and that the starting minimum salary go up from $36,000 to $40,000.

Arkansas public schools have 33,886 teachers and 476,579 students in 259 school districts.

When lawmakers consider funding of the Division of Correction, there likely will be an effort to build a new prison, or to significantly expand existing prison units.

The Division of Correction employs about 3,500 people.

Another factor in the background of this autumn’s budget hearings is that Arkansas will elect a new governor in November. The new governor’s administration will have its own spending priorities.

The state is in relatively healthy financial condition, with about $2.5 billion in various reserve funds and rainy day funds. The most recent forecast in May projected a budget surplus in fiscal 2023 of about $900 million. The legislature met in special session to accelerate previously enacted tax reductions.

The tax cuts lowered the amount of the estimated surplus to about $400 million, but it has continued to grow since the special session. During the first three months of the current fiscal year revenue has exceeded the forecast by $175 million.

Arkansas has traditionally adopted very conservative budgets. It also operates under a balanced budget law called the Revenue Stabilization Act, which reduces state agency spending if an economic downturn lowers revenue.

Overall, the challenge will be adequately paying for essential services while holding growth below the inflation rate, legislative leaders have said.

Medicaid is a government health care program that provides services for more than a million Arkansans. As of the first of September, 1.1 million Arkansas residents were enrolled.

Medicaid is administered by the state Human Services Department, which has a budget of about $10 billion. Most of that comes from federal funding. This year Arkansas will match federal grants with about $1.78 billion in state funding.

The department has 6,600 employees.

The Department of Transportation, with 3,600 employees, is funded from special revenues such as motor fuels taxes and truck fees.

Week In Review

State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – When Arkansas voters go to the polls on November 8 they will determine the fate of four proposed amendments to the state Constitution.

Three of the measures were referred to the ballot by the legislature. Issue One would grant the legislature the power to call itself into session. Issue Two would require a 60 percent majority for approval of future amendments and initiatives. Issue Three would prohibit state and local governments from burdening a person’s practice of religion, unless there is a compelling reason.

Issue Four was proposed by an interest group, to legalize the possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Issue One would change current language in the state Constitution that empowers only the governor to call a special session of the legislature. If approved by voters, Issue One would authorize legislators to call themselves into special session.

It could be done either by joint proclamation of the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, or by a proclamation signed by at least two-thirds of the membership of both the House and the Senate.

Issue One would not affect the current power of the governor to call special sessions.

Issue Two would require 60 percent majorities for approval of proposed amendments and initiated acts, rather than the current requirement that a simple majority is sufficient. It would affect proposed amendments referred by the legislature, as well as proposals by citizens’ groups.

Supporters of Issue Two say that under the current system, it has become too easy for special interest groups to change the Constitution, by spending large sums of money to pay canvassers to collect signatures and for television commercials.

Opponents say Issue Two would curtail the power of the people to govern themselves, and that the current system has rigorous standards to make sure that signature gathering is done honestly and openly.

Arkansas is one of 15 states that allow citizens to propose constitutional amendments and changes in state laws. Florida requires a 60 percent majority; Colorado requires 55 percent. Nevada requires a simple majority, but in two separate elections. Some states require supermajorities for approval of gambling or new taxes. Two states require only a simple majority, but voter turnout must exceed a certain threshold.

Issue Three would create a legal claim by which someone could file a lawsuit seeking relief from a government action that imposes on their religious beliefs.

Issue Four would allow adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana. The eight cultivation facilities that are now allowed to grow medical marijuana would be granted the authority to grow it and sell it for non-medical purposes.

An additional 12 cultivation licenses would be issued.

Issue Four would grant a license to sell non-medical marijuana to the existing 40 dispensaries that are now licensed to sell medical marijuana, at their current location. Existing dispensaries also would automatically receive a second license to sell non-medical marijuana at a location at least five miles away from any current dispensary.

Using a lottery system, an additional 40 licenses would be issued to new dispensaries.

In other words, Issue Four would allow a maximum of 20 licenses to grow non-medical marijuana at regulated cultivation facilities, and a maximum of 120 retail dispensaries of non-medical marijuana.