House members of a joint legislative committee are voting on a bill Wednesday to restructure the embattled Cannabis Control Commission, downsizing it to a three-member panel and addressing industry pressure points like license caps and the rise of intoxicating hemp products.
A Cannabis Policy Committee poll email was sent to House committee members Wednesday morning, seeking a favorable recommendation on the 46-page bill. The poll is slated to close at 1 p.m. and the bill would be reported to the House.
Frustration with the slow pace of CCC regulatory changes, headline-grabbing internal conflicts and a plea from the inspector general for the Legislature to intervene at the "rudderless agency" and revisit its "unclear and self-contradictory" 2017 enabling statute combined last summer to compel the committee to weigh a response.
The CCC is a five-commissioner body, with appointments made singularly and jointly by the governor, attorney general and treasurer. Under the bill, the CCC would include three people appointed by the governor, with the governor also selecting one to serve as chair. The chairperson, rather than the entire body of commissioners, would hire the agency's executive director.
Read more at Worcester Busines Journal