Now that California has finally passed a budget and can get back to work, a state lawmaker and three middle-school administrators have turned their attention to dealing, in different ways, with the state’s booming, illegal trade in marijuana.

As The Los Angeles Times reports today, three of the people in charge of the George K. Porter Middle School in the city’s Granada Hills district were removed from their posts this week after they conducted a private “sting” operation, in which they asked a student whom they suspected of dealing in illegal drugs to buy some marijuana for them.

When the student delivered the goods to the three — the principal, an assistant principal and a dean — the administrators called the Los Angeles Police Department. The police are now looking into the suspected marijuana dealer, of course — but they also had some bad news for the three administrators: Asking a minor to buy drugs is itself a felony in California.

The newspaper reports that the administrators have “been reassigned by the Los Angeles Unified School District to positions away from the Granada Hills campus” while the investigation continues.

Earlier in the week, Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat recently elected to the state legislature, announced that he was introducing a bill that would “tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol” in the state of California. According to Mr. Ammiano, Assembly Bill 390, which would impose a tax of $50 per ounce on marijuana sales, “would generate $1 billion in new revenue” for the state if it is enacted — and that’s a big “if.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that there is some backing for Mr. Ammiano’s proposal from state officials whose duty it is to enforce the current laws against marijuana, as well as from those who must balance the state’s books:

Ammiano’s proposal has the support of San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, who said the idea “should be the subject of legislative and public debate.”

It also has the backing of Betty Yee, who chairs the state Board of Equalization, which collects taxes in California. An analysis by the agency concluded the state would collect $1.3 billion a year from tax revenues and a $50-an-ounce levy on retail sales if marijuana were legal.

Despite some confusing reports from California television stations, that $50 is not what is called a “sin tax.” A look at the text of Assembly Bill 390 makes it clear that the bill mandates that retail outlets, not consumers, would pay the fee of $50 an ounce for the sale of marijuana.http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.com

The Chronicle’s report also features video of Mr. Ammiano discussing his proposal. Mr. Ammiano, a longtime Democratic leader who recently appeared in the movie “Milk,” said that each year the marijuana industry in California “probably nets $14 billion that goes up in smoke.”

John Lovell, a lobbyist who opposes the bill on behalf of three California police groups, told The Wall Street Journal that the proposed law is based on the “fallacious assumption that if we could only legalize marijuana, that we will have fiscal and social Shangri-La.”  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

One complication, of course, is that there is a federal law banning the sale of marijuana that would be unaffected by any change in California’s state law. The Sacramento Bee reports that the bill could create a confusing situation for state law enforcement officials if California’s law changes but federal law does not. As the newspaper points out:

If the federal ban never is lifted, AB 390 would prohibit state and local officers from assisting federal agencies in enforcing marijuana laws.http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.com