Mass. lawmakers mull receivership for cannabis agency

• Shapiro made his case for an overhaul to lawmakers in a hearing Tuesday.
• Officials say this would be the first time a state agency entered receivership.

Catch up fast: Shapiro sent a letter to lawmakers last month requesting they approve a measure placing the CCC into receivership and rebuilding it.

• At the root of the CCC's problems, he says, is the statute giving the same authority to the chairperson and executive director.
• Acting Chairperson Ava Callender Concepcion blasted Shapiro for suggesting receivership, saying he failed to consider the CCC's success as a trailblazer in the cannabis industry.

State of play: Shapiro asked lawmakers to appoint a receiver before the formal legislative session ends this month.

• He said lawmakers could spend the next two-year session debating how to rebuild the agency while a receiver is in charge.

Between the lines: Shapiro repeatedly said his recommendations were about the agency's governance structure, "not about the people."

• But the personalities and infighting are impossible to ignore. Lawmakers repeatedly noted the state's gaming commission has the same structure but has largely avoided dysfunction.

What's next: Lawmakers have a short window — barely three weeks — to decide whether to fulfill Shapiro's request before the formal session ends.

• At least one lawmaker, Sen. Michael Moore, told the State House News Service he plans to file an amendment creating a receiver to the Senate's economic development package this week.
• But its success depends on whether lawmakers can find consensus about the CCC's fate. Members of the cannabis committee expressed hesitancy to resort to receivership.

Zoom in: Shapiro offered a laundry list of reasons why receivership is necessary. Here are a few:

✍🏻 Several commissioners resigned before the end of their term, including Chair Steven Hoffman in 2022.

• Hoffman's resignation came shortly after he tried to get a mediator to help "establish a governance structure," which still hasn't been achieved, Shapiro says.

✍🏻 Chair Shannon O'Brien, Hoffman's successor, was suspended last year.

• She appointed Concepcion as acting chairperson, but her appointment was met with lots of debate by her colleagues and multiple votes over three months.

✍🏻 The executive director failed to notify commissioners of a Holyoke cannabis worker's January 2022 death until that October.

✍🏻 The CCC data breach: Employees sent a blogger a spreadsheet with cannabis employees' personal data in March 2023, along with other confidential information.

✍🏻 The CCC often fails to implement new laws and rules in a timely manner.

• One example: The agency still hasn't implemented its change removing the two-driver rule for cannabis deliveries despite voting on it in December.