Public updated on CCC happenings during ‘blackout period’ between old and new commissioners
Today’s public meeting of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission was among the least eventful happenings in the agency’s recent history. That is, of course, unless you consider that the people in charge of the proceedings were all new, replacements for commissioners who lost their jobs in a full agency overhaul.
Among the many changes coming as a result of new legislation, the size of the commission was reduced from five commissioners to three, with appointment authority consolidated under the governor (previously, the governor, treasurer, and attorney general had appointing responsibilities). The legislation also “requires that one commissioner have a background in social justice, and the other two commissioners must have backgrounds in public health, public safety, social justice, consumer regulations, or the production and distribution of marijuana or marijuana products.”
Chris Harding, the new CCC chair, called the meeting to order. He most recently served as chief of staff and undersecretary at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and before that was commissioner of the Mass Department of Revenue. Harding was also a founding member of the Cannabis Advisory Board, where he chaired the industry subcommittee.
In his opening comments, Harding gave “big thanks to the governor and lieutenant governor as well as the legislature for taking some bold actions in order to help support the mission of the Cannabis Control Commission going forward.” Calling these “exciting times as we think about the next iteration of what can be and what will be” in the Massachusetts industry, he said the “combination of the three commissioners here brings a unique set of experiences.”
Xiomara DeLobato is the appointed social justice expert, with a “career spanning economic development, workforce strategy and community engagement.” Formerly the vice president and chief of staff for the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, she said, “I am eager to get to work with my fellow commissioners and the team.”
Anthony Wilson won’t be sworn in as a member of the CCC until next week, but joined Thursday’s meeting in a “watching capacity.” He comes with a background in “cannabis law, municipal government, and small business development,” and said he’s “excited for the work that we are going to be doing together, along with the tremendous staff here at the commission, to push this industry forward in this state and make it safe, equitable, and accessible.”
Update on the ‘blackout period’
The new members had a light agenda to tackle on Thursday—mostly approving the minutes from prior meetings, introducing themselves, and voting on licensing applications. The legwork leading up to those approvals was done by agency staffers during what CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern called the “blackout period” between the exit of past commissioners and today’s meeting.
The ED thanked lawmakers for “their clear approach to this recent legislation which includes methodical prioritization of certain regulatory changes that will be coming.” He then noted updates that took place in the past month between outgoing and incoming members:
- Two groups of licensing renewals were processed in the interim period. Those lists of renewals were included for votes in today’s meeting packet, with all receiving approval.
- Three bulletins were issued around the new legislation—one relating to two-ounce sales, another relating to delivery and the municipal waiver option, and a third relating to the financial interest threshold for ownership moving from 10% to 20% (the increase for retail license caps, from three to six, will be finalized in June).
- There were also two non-legislation bulletins issued—one relating to the Social Equity Trust Fund, and a more recent one about the auditing of label potency.
- They hosted an EquityWorks career fair.
- And Social Consumption working groups continued their work.
Implementing the rest of the new law
At Thursday’s meeting, Ahern said that many items from the new legislation that stakeholders are looking forward to seeing implemented will be addressed next month. The next CCC meeting is scheduled for June 11.
As for the technical deadline of June 19, the ED explained in a recent interview with TJM, per the letter of the new law, the CCC has 60 days from April 19 to implement a long and complicated list of changes, from the aforementioned restructuring of the board, to ‘modernizing’ license caps, to ‘boosting public accountability requirements.’ For the latter, the legislation ‘requires the CCC to prepare new reports regarding the public health impacts of cannabis and the cannabis excise tax rate.’
Realistically, the agency will not be able to get all of that work done in just two months. With that considered, the CCC is in communication with state lawmakers, including from the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, about prioritizing certain elements and implementing related aspects in different packages.
First up: beginning the process to accept applications under the updated licensing ownership threshold framework in the coming weeks. … Once the next board arrives, the commission is supposed to hold a public meeting, followed by a public hearing. After that, they can re-open the regulations (for a third time this year) to review the amendments called for under the new statute.
