Massachusetts workers may finally get an avenue to report illegal activity at licensed cannabis businesses.

Why it matters: The latest cannabis reform bill would address some concerns workers have raised since the death of a western Massachusetts grow facility employee in 2022.

The latest: The House passed the cannabis reform bill Wednesday, 155-0, with two lawmakers abstaining.

• The Senate plans to vote on the measure Thursday.

State of play: The bill would direct the Cannabis Control Commission to set up an online portal where workers can submit complaints, including anonymously.

• The bill wouldn't require more stringent rules on workplace safety but instead would make the commission review its regulations on safety, air quality, first responder access and other standards by July 2027.
• The commission doesn't currently test for air quality or air particulates, for example, commissioner Kim Roy said Thursday.

What they're saying: Roy applauded the move to create a way to accept anonymous submissions, noting that the agency doesn't have the authority to bestow whistleblower protections itself.

• "I think part of the reason folks have been reluctant to come forward is because there is no guarantee of anonymity," she told Axios.

Yes, but: Workplace safety advocates said lawmakers should impose stronger workplace safety requirements.

• Tatiana Sofia Begault, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, said the bill is a "first step in the right direction."
• She said it should include enforceable training, protections for workers exposed to harmful materials, health and risk analysis, and safeguards for workers seeking to unionize or report hazards.
• The commission has room to make improvements in the future, Roy said, from testing air quality to analyzing the effects of cannabis dust.

What's next: The Senate is all but guaranteed to approve the cannabis bill, sending it to Gov. Maura Healey's office.

Spread the word

Less than 1% of the revenue that Greater Boston nonprofits serving women, girls and gender-expansive people reported in 2024 went to groups prioritizing girls and women of color.

Why it matters: Those groups' leaders reported being understaffed, overworked and less supported than other nonprofits, according to a new report from the Boston Women's Fund and UMass Boston.

• The findings come six years after U.S. business, philanthropic and political leaders pledged to address racial inequities.

State of play: Grassroots leaders, who often experience racial and gender inequities themselves, are tackling large systemic problems affecting women and girls of color with fewer resources than their white and male colleagues.

• The report attributes that gap largely to a lack of visibility and exclusion from traditional philanthropic models.
• These leaders, addressing problems ranging from housing affordability to domestic violence prevention to health disparities, reported experiencing chronic overwork and burnout.

Stunning stat: Of the $112 billion these nonprofits reported in revenue, $25 million, or 0.22%, went to groups focused on women and girls of color, per the report.

• While women and girls of color make up nearly 20% of Greater Boston's population, just 0.2% of local nonprofits explicitly serve them.

What they're saying: Natanja Craig Oquendo, executive director of the Boston Women's Fund, said grassroots organizations of color were "trending" after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were killed by police, but that attention was short-lived.

• "What we unearthed was really how hard the last few years have been," she tells Axios.

The report also estimates 60% of that total revenue flowed to five large institutions: Wellesley College, reproductive rights nonprofit Upstream USA, boarding school Dana Hall, The Winsor School and Planned Parenthood.

• They absorb nearly half of donations, per the report.
• Dominique Lee, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said the organization's focus is on expanding access to sexual and reproductive health care, particularly for women and girls of color who face barriers.
• "Meeting the full scope of need requires a functioning ecosystem, not a single provider. That includes high-volume clinical providers, as well as community-based organizations delivering culturally specific, locally rooted services," said Lee, whose organization serves more than 30,000 patients statewide.

Go deeper

💸 The Wu administration will no longer fund a renovation for the Jackson Mann Community Center as part of the FY2031 capital budget. (Allstonia)

• An official cited the budget deficit and priorities such as White Stadium and the Madison Park Vocational Center High School.
• What's next: Local officials are planning a rally Tuesday to protest the decision.

⛪️ A land court judge ruled that the First Church of Somerville may proceed with plans to open a homeless shelter in its basement. (WBUR)

Former State Rep. David Nangle, who was convicted of illegally using campaign funds for gambling, wants a judge to overturn the state retirement board decision stripping him of an $800,000 pension. (Globe)

⚖️ Supreme Judicial Court justices grilled both sides on the White Stadium project yesterday as they heard arguments over challenges to the renovation to make way for Legacy Women's Soccer FC games. (Dorchester Reporter)

ICYMI: A judge ruled Tuesday that the feds unlawfully canceled Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova's visa after she allegedly brought frog embryos into the U.S. after a research trip last year. (Crimson)

Massachusetts lost nearly 35,000 jobs between January 2020 and January 2026.

The big picture: The data suggest that Massachusetts is losing ground compared to states that have seen job growth, including Texas, Florida and North Carolina, per the Pioneer Institute.

What they're saying: "Over the past six years, the Commonwealth has lost the equivalent of every private-sector job in Brookline, while business-friendly states have added jobs by the hundreds of thousands," Jim Stergios, the institute's executive director, said in a press release.

The Artemis II mission returns to Earth tomorrow.

• Here's a picture the Orion spacecraft took of us during the mission.