While the state Legislature ponders exactly how legalized recreational marijuana will be sold in Massachusetts, a promising new idea has emerged about how to spend the revenue expected from taxing the pot sales.

A bill under consideration by the Labor and Workforce Development Committee would take 1 percent of the excise taxes collected on retail marijuana purchases and convert the cash to subsidies for those who hire and train young employees.

In a hearing before the committee this week, Rep. Michael Day, D-Stoneham, touted his proposal to create a youth employment subsidy program that would encourage municipalities or businesses to hire youth workers ages 16 through 24 by subsidizing a young worker’s paycheck.

It’s unclear how much money might be available, since lawmakers haven’t yet decided how much to tax pot on top of the basic state sales tax of 6.25 percent. The referendum approved by voters in November called for a 3.75 percent excise tax, but many lawmakers and other state officials argue that is barely enough to cover expenses of the regulatory apparatus to oversee pot sales. The rest is supposed to go for uses designated by the Legislature. Some in state government have estimated sales and pot taxes combined might bring in $64 million in the first year and then grow. But no one has ventured an estimate on how much the administrative overhead will cost.

The youth employment subsidy program would be administered by the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, and Day said it would “provide funds to municipalities and private businesses for the training of local youth, as well as to offer a modest subsidy to private businesses, municipalities or agencies to incentivize the hiring of young adults.”

“I was incredibly fortunate to always have a job during my teenage and adult years, and this enabled me to save some money for school and, frankly, to stay out of trouble,” Day told the Labor and Workforce committee at the public hearing. “It otherwise prepared me to do jobs and I acquired skills and other life habits that I’ve carried through the current day that I couldn’t learn in the classroom or on neighborhood corners.”

Day said he hopes the Legislature will raise the tax rate on marijuana — which the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy is expected to recommend when it unveils an omnibus bill this month to make changes to the marijuana law approved by voters.

As Day explained to the committee Tuesday, a Youth Employment Fund would subsidize youth workers at a rate of $3 per hour, leaving the business to pay at least $8 per hour so the worker takes home at least the state minimum wage of $11 per hour.

Day’s bill follows the model of the state lottery. About 20 percent of lottery revenue goes to cities and towns in the form of state aid.

We will leave for another day the debate about whether legalizing pot for adults 21 years and older will lead teenagers astray. But there’s no debate about the value of helping young people find productive paths in life. We like the idea of diverting some of this new “sin” tax to help young people get job training and early exposure to constructive experiences they might not otherwise have.

Of course, there may be competing claims on the pot tax revenue. And the Legislature should withhold final judgment on this bill until we see what those other ideas might be — and just how big is the pie they want to carve up.

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