Pot bill high on ‘health and safety’
House legislation includes tax hike, power for pols to ban shops
The House passed its version of the state’s revamped recreational marijuana law by a vote of 126-28 last night, after a monthslong, controversial process that critics said threatened to undermine the will of voters who passed Question 4 last November.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said in a statement, “This bill reflects a commitment to legalizing adult-use marijuana while upholding our duty to ensure safety and effective management. The House placed a premium on health and safety. In addition to the rigorous product testing and security measures, I believe that the independence of the Cannabis Control Commission will allow this new industry to be implemented in a safe and efficient manner.”
Deliberations stretched late into the night as members offered up dozens of amendments aimed at improving the groundbreaking bill.
The House vote sets up a likely showdown with the Senate, which is expected today to take up its own bill which hues closer to the original language passed last November by 1.8 million Massachusetts voters.
“We knew from a long time out this was not going to be a consensus bill, that expungement, local control and the tax rate were our sticking points,” said state Rep. Mark Cusack (DBraintree), chair of the Marijuana Policy Committee. “You see that reflected in their draft of the legislation. And the legislation that came out of here tonight. I look forward to their debate tomorrow and seeing what happens there.”
The House proposal rewrites several major components of the ballot question. It installs a 28 percent tax, a drastic hike from the 12 percent voters passed, and it gives local elected officials — not local voters — the power to ban pot shops and other facilities from their towns or cities.
“It’s higher than what people anticipated but we’re in the middle of the pack in terms of states that have legalized and regulated marijuana,” Cusack said. “Being around 28 is a good starting point. And you want to be high when you are starting off regulating a new industry. You don’t want to be short on revenue and implement this new industry on a shoestring budget. That doesn’t benefit the people of the commonwealth.”
He said the bill gives the communities discretion on whether to allow the sale of marijuana.
“Local control remains with the communities. The boards of selectmen and Town Meeting,” he said. “We made a lot of positive changes around the bill today especially in terms of inclusion ... Owning the business or applying for the license, also employees of these cannabis establishments.”
Other provisions include stringent background checks and fingerprinting for all people who own or work in licensed marijuana-related businesses. The bill would create two new enforcement agencies, one within the Cannabis Control Commission, a five-member board that will regulate recreational and medical marijuana, and another within the state attorney general’s office. It also would establish standards for the packaging and labeling of marijuana products, including edible ones, to assure those products are safe.
The bill would keep intact many elements of the current law, such as those allowing adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to 12 pot plants per household. Retail marijuana stores could begin opening in cities and towns in the second half of 2018, but local governing bodies could move to ban or limit pot shops without first asking voters.
Among the changes made late last night was dedicating more money to treatment programs, which went from $30 million to $50 million, with $5 million of that earmarked for public school programs.
The Senate, meanwhile, has called for modest changes. Its original bill, which will likely see its own share of amendments today, keeps the tax at 12 percent and allows for local residents to decide through a referendum if marijuana dispensaries can set up within their borders.
Any bill that emerges will have to be reconciled between leaders in both chambers in a closeddoor conference committee, and all under a tight deadline.
Legislators are facing a June 30 deadline — next Friday — to get a bill to Gov. Charlie Baker, in order to give the state a year-long runway to establish governance and rules before the first recreational marijuana shops can open in July 2018.