The House budget committee teed up cannabis legislation Tuesday morning, advancing legislation that would downsize the embattled Cannabis Control Commission and address industry pressure points ahead of a Wednesday formal session for the House.
The House Ways and Means version of the bill goes along with an idea that came out of the House side of the Cannabis Policy Committee to reduce the size of the CCC from its current five commissioners to three, move the regulatory commission under the executive branch, and give the governor the sole power to appoint members. A Ways and Means spokesman said the panel made no substantive changes to what the Cannabis Policy Committee put out last week.
Currently, appointments are made to the commission by the governor, attorney general and treasurer. Under the bill moving in the House, the CCC would include three people all appointed by the governor, with the governor also selecting the chair, the lone full-time commissioner.
It also seeks to further regulate intoxicating hemp-based items, which often exist in a legal gray area with limited oversight; adjusts the existing cap on retail licenses any one operator can hold; and eliminates the requirement that medical marijuana businesses be “vertically integrated,” meaning they must grow and process all the marijuana they sell.
The Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill with 23 Democrats in support of a favorable report, none opposed, eight Republicans reserving their rights, and five Boston Democrats taking no action on the committee poll.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Aaron Michlewitz said last week he was “hopeful to do it soon” and that the House would “make it a priority to kind of get through it as quickly as we can.” Speaker Ronald Mariano’s office confirmed the cannabis bill will be on the agenda for Wednesday’s formal session in the House.
Top Senate Democrats haven’t expressed the same sense of urgency on the CCC.
“I will talk to senators and the chair of the Cannabis Committee, and we’ll see. We’ll take a look at whatever the House sends over, of course,” Senate President Karen Spilka said Thursday.
