"Today on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives, we saw once again clearly who the Democrats stand with, and it's not every day Arizonans. It's the marijuana industry. Arizonans approved the Medical Marijuana Act in 2010, but it was so poorly written that lawmakers have had to try to fill in the gaps of issues not defined. One of those issues is that the Department of Revenue (DOR) is not able to get accurate information on sales data, because the Department of Health Services (DHS) is not able to share it. In fact, DOR can't even know the name of the dispensary or the location of the business, because of the "confidentiality" of the license. I fixed that with SB 1024, which would have required DHS, upon request, to share that data from dispensaries. The bill passed out of the Senate 30-0, but today only four House Democrats joined all 31 House Republicans in supporting this commonsense measure, and the bill died.

The marijuana industry is the only business in our state that enjoys this loophole that allows for complete anonymity. It's a cash business, and with this special protection, the opportunity for major tax fraud and money laundering is enormous. Nearly every House Democrat today voted to keep the status quo of protectionism. Democrats are always wailing about corporate welfare and crony capitalism, in picking winners and losers. But today, a multimillion dollar industry won, and the people of Arizona lost, because Democrats picked marijuana over the people's priorities, such as education, public safety and our roads."