As Michigan lawmakers finally approved a budget, one piece of the deal included a new tax on wholesale marijuana sales that is intended to help fund future road work.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Oct. 3, the Senate voted 19-17 (there is one vacancy in the Senate and one member did not vote) to impose a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana sales. The House passed the same legislation on Sept. 25 by a 78-21 tally (11 members did not cast votes), sending the bill to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

Other portions of the deal passed more easily with the overall budget approved 101-8 in the House and 31-5 in the Senate, and the school aid package OK'd 104-5 and 31-5.

The road plan relies on the 24% wholesale tax on marijuana, and is about half as big as the $3 billion road deal Whitmer and

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