Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
With a July 1 deadline drifting like a haze of smoke past State House pols, community leaders awaiting guidance on the state's recreational pot laws find themselves unwittingly trapped in their own legislative limbo.
Just before Middlesex East went to press this week, a half-dozen lawmakers emerged from closed-door talks to announce no progress had been made in resolving differences between two competing House and Senate pot bills.
Both pieces of legislation, passed within days of each other in late June, are aimed at overhauling a marijuana legalization law passed by Mass. voters in November of 2016. Leaders from both legislative chambers had promised to present to Mass. Governor Charles Baker a final bill by July 1, a self-imposed deadline set so state officials could begin crafting final regulations for issuing retail pot sales licenses.
Neither bill addresses or changes statutes surrounding recreational marijuana use and possession, which per the November referendum question, became legal for all state residents over 21 last December.
"I don't know. It's not going to be easy," one negotiator, Quincy State Rep. Ronald Marino, was quoted as saying to statehouse reporters this Monday, after the conference committee broke from a morning negotiation session.
The outcome of the recreational pot overhaul is of great significance to local communities, because the reform bill is expected to clarify the process by which cities and towns may opt out of the eventual legalization of cannabis sales in Massachusetts.
Presently, based upon guidance from Attorney General Maura Healey's office, communities looking to ban retail sales must do so through a local ballot question. However, some municipal attorneys and legal specialists have suggested Town Meeting votes, as well as passage of zoning and general bylaws, are also necessary.
"There's a wide divergence amongst communities as to how to address this," Stoneham Town Counsel Robert Galvin, whose firm provides legal services to a number of municipal clients, told the Board of Selectmen last spring. "Rather than be sorry, we'll probably be safe and recommend a multitude of approaches [to enacting a ban."
Though the state Senate reform bill would leave the opt-out portions of the recreational pot law unchanged, the House version would empower city councils and select boards to impose a ban without having to consult voters.
Already, Lynnfield and Reading voters have banned recreational pot sales within their borders. Town Meeting representatives in Wakefield last spring similarly enacted a ban and a zoning and general bylaw amendment that prohibits such business uses. Local officials in Wakefield, when addressing the Town Meeting petitions, told citizens a ballot question would likely be featured in an election to be held in the spring of 2018.
In Woburn, the City Council last May also unanimously sponsored an order, which would establish an outright prohibition on recreational cannabis sales. Woburn voters will decide whether or not to support that initiative during municipal elections in November.
The growing number of those considering an outright ban has caused concern for abutting communities, where town officials worry they could be the only municipality in the region with retail pot shops. For example, after Reading, Wakefield and Woburn all either passed or placed proposed bans on an election ballot, Selectmen Caroline Colarusso and Shelly MacNeill worried about flocks of marijuana users coming to Stoneham.
"I would urge my colleagues on the board to consider opting out. We'll be the only state in New England that has legalized marijuana [sales]. I think we're really vulnerable where we're right between I-93 and I-95. The last thing we want to be is the only community that engages in this, when all the surrounding communities don't," Colarusso commented earlier this spring.
According to local officials in Burlington, Wilmington, and Stoneham, study groups and elected boards are all awaiting a final reform bill before deciding whether to sanction the opening of pot shops. All three of those towns have enacted zoning moratoriums, which halt the local permitting process until each community can establish official zoning and licensing rules surrounding the retail marijuana industry.
"We did put an article on the Town Meeting warrant to establish a moratorium," explained Wilmington Town Manager Jeffery Hull, referencing the local pot permitting freeze that will expire in June of 2018. "In the meantime, we're looking to see how this shakes out on the state level...There is some measure of concern about how the marijuana law will be administered."
"My sense is there is some concern as to where these places would be located," Hull continued. "I think it's striking that in spite of the fact that it passed [last November at the ballot], when cities and towns look at this [issue], there seems to be some reticence when it comes to the prospect [of pot shops opening up within our borders]."
Presently, there is much confusion, based on the language of the marijuana ballot question approved by voters in Nov. of 2016, as to what types of controls, if any, local communities may impose on retail sales. Complicating the picture, a state Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), the still-unappointed state body that will be charged with enacting official regulations, won't likely be constituted until Beacon Hill legislators finalize a reform bill.
The CCC is expected to implement the regulatory structure with input from a larger Cannabis Advisory Board, which has also yet to be appointed . Under current timelines, that advisory process was supposed to wrap up no later than March of 2018, just weeks before the state is expected to begin issuing licenses to pot retailers.
Lawmakers are proposing to change the makeup of the CCC, which per the 2016 referendum will be a three-person body under the jurisdiction of State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg's office. Both the House and Senate bills intend to increase the state board's membership and ensure the state attorney general and the governor's office appoint representatives .
However, with state lawmakers missing their July 1 deadline and Beacon Hill insiders wondering whether the stalemate will be overcome any time soon, area community leaders waiting for a final bill and word from the CCC are being increasingly driven into their own time crunch corner.
In Burlington, where a moratorium has been enacted, a special study group is expected to make recommendations in August to the town's Board of Selectmen, who in turn hope to sponsor legislation at a September Town Meeting addressing pot sales.
But according to Town Administrator John Petrin, who authorized his office manager to speak on his behalf, that Burlington advisory panel is awaiting guidance from the state.
"We're having active conversations to get ready for our September Town Meeting," said the town spokesperson.
In Wilmington, Hull is also feeling the time constraints, and he believes that should state regulators fail to act soon, town officials may have to move on in the planning process.
"It certainly does raise some measure of concern. We're monitoring how long it will take to come up with final regulations," said the town administrator. "If there's not a final resolution, we might have to consider other steps. We certainly don't want to be in the same place next year as we are right now."
The state House version of the bill, according to proponents, may encourage cities and towns to allow the opening of pot shops, because it will increase from 2 to 5 percent a local option tax associated with sales. Overall, the House bill would hike taxation rates from 12 to 28 percent, while the Senate version proposes to stick with the 12 percent structure approved by state voters in Nov. of 2016.
Senate bill advocates say keeping taxes low will hinder the black market for marijuana, which could remain an attractive option for pot users hoping to procure a cheaper product. The tax issue remains one of the most hotly contested issues in the ongoing legislative debate.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Beacon Hill grapples with pot laws | Middlesex East | homenewshere.com
Author: PAT BLAIS
Contact: Contact Us | Site | homenewshere.com
Photo Credit: Associated Press
Website: homenewshere.com | Local news provided by local people
Just before Middlesex East went to press this week, a half-dozen lawmakers emerged from closed-door talks to announce no progress had been made in resolving differences between two competing House and Senate pot bills.
Both pieces of legislation, passed within days of each other in late June, are aimed at overhauling a marijuana legalization law passed by Mass. voters in November of 2016. Leaders from both legislative chambers had promised to present to Mass. Governor Charles Baker a final bill by July 1, a self-imposed deadline set so state officials could begin crafting final regulations for issuing retail pot sales licenses.
Neither bill addresses or changes statutes surrounding recreational marijuana use and possession, which per the November referendum question, became legal for all state residents over 21 last December.
"I don't know. It's not going to be easy," one negotiator, Quincy State Rep. Ronald Marino, was quoted as saying to statehouse reporters this Monday, after the conference committee broke from a morning negotiation session.
The outcome of the recreational pot overhaul is of great significance to local communities, because the reform bill is expected to clarify the process by which cities and towns may opt out of the eventual legalization of cannabis sales in Massachusetts.
Presently, based upon guidance from Attorney General Maura Healey's office, communities looking to ban retail sales must do so through a local ballot question. However, some municipal attorneys and legal specialists have suggested Town Meeting votes, as well as passage of zoning and general bylaws, are also necessary.
"There's a wide divergence amongst communities as to how to address this," Stoneham Town Counsel Robert Galvin, whose firm provides legal services to a number of municipal clients, told the Board of Selectmen last spring. "Rather than be sorry, we'll probably be safe and recommend a multitude of approaches [to enacting a ban."
Though the state Senate reform bill would leave the opt-out portions of the recreational pot law unchanged, the House version would empower city councils and select boards to impose a ban without having to consult voters.
Already, Lynnfield and Reading voters have banned recreational pot sales within their borders. Town Meeting representatives in Wakefield last spring similarly enacted a ban and a zoning and general bylaw amendment that prohibits such business uses. Local officials in Wakefield, when addressing the Town Meeting petitions, told citizens a ballot question would likely be featured in an election to be held in the spring of 2018.
In Woburn, the City Council last May also unanimously sponsored an order, which would establish an outright prohibition on recreational cannabis sales. Woburn voters will decide whether or not to support that initiative during municipal elections in November.
The growing number of those considering an outright ban has caused concern for abutting communities, where town officials worry they could be the only municipality in the region with retail pot shops. For example, after Reading, Wakefield and Woburn all either passed or placed proposed bans on an election ballot, Selectmen Caroline Colarusso and Shelly MacNeill worried about flocks of marijuana users coming to Stoneham.
"I would urge my colleagues on the board to consider opting out. We'll be the only state in New England that has legalized marijuana [sales]. I think we're really vulnerable where we're right between I-93 and I-95. The last thing we want to be is the only community that engages in this, when all the surrounding communities don't," Colarusso commented earlier this spring.
According to local officials in Burlington, Wilmington, and Stoneham, study groups and elected boards are all awaiting a final reform bill before deciding whether to sanction the opening of pot shops. All three of those towns have enacted zoning moratoriums, which halt the local permitting process until each community can establish official zoning and licensing rules surrounding the retail marijuana industry.
"We did put an article on the Town Meeting warrant to establish a moratorium," explained Wilmington Town Manager Jeffery Hull, referencing the local pot permitting freeze that will expire in June of 2018. "In the meantime, we're looking to see how this shakes out on the state level...There is some measure of concern about how the marijuana law will be administered."
"My sense is there is some concern as to where these places would be located," Hull continued. "I think it's striking that in spite of the fact that it passed [last November at the ballot], when cities and towns look at this [issue], there seems to be some reticence when it comes to the prospect [of pot shops opening up within our borders]."
Presently, there is much confusion, based on the language of the marijuana ballot question approved by voters in Nov. of 2016, as to what types of controls, if any, local communities may impose on retail sales. Complicating the picture, a state Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), the still-unappointed state body that will be charged with enacting official regulations, won't likely be constituted until Beacon Hill legislators finalize a reform bill.
The CCC is expected to implement the regulatory structure with input from a larger Cannabis Advisory Board, which has also yet to be appointed . Under current timelines, that advisory process was supposed to wrap up no later than March of 2018, just weeks before the state is expected to begin issuing licenses to pot retailers.
Lawmakers are proposing to change the makeup of the CCC, which per the 2016 referendum will be a three-person body under the jurisdiction of State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg's office. Both the House and Senate bills intend to increase the state board's membership and ensure the state attorney general and the governor's office appoint representatives .
However, with state lawmakers missing their July 1 deadline and Beacon Hill insiders wondering whether the stalemate will be overcome any time soon, area community leaders waiting for a final bill and word from the CCC are being increasingly driven into their own time crunch corner.
In Burlington, where a moratorium has been enacted, a special study group is expected to make recommendations in August to the town's Board of Selectmen, who in turn hope to sponsor legislation at a September Town Meeting addressing pot sales.
But according to Town Administrator John Petrin, who authorized his office manager to speak on his behalf, that Burlington advisory panel is awaiting guidance from the state.
"We're having active conversations to get ready for our September Town Meeting," said the town spokesperson.
In Wilmington, Hull is also feeling the time constraints, and he believes that should state regulators fail to act soon, town officials may have to move on in the planning process.
"It certainly does raise some measure of concern. We're monitoring how long it will take to come up with final regulations," said the town administrator. "If there's not a final resolution, we might have to consider other steps. We certainly don't want to be in the same place next year as we are right now."
The state House version of the bill, according to proponents, may encourage cities and towns to allow the opening of pot shops, because it will increase from 2 to 5 percent a local option tax associated with sales. Overall, the House bill would hike taxation rates from 12 to 28 percent, while the Senate version proposes to stick with the 12 percent structure approved by state voters in Nov. of 2016.
Senate bill advocates say keeping taxes low will hinder the black market for marijuana, which could remain an attractive option for pot users hoping to procure a cheaper product. The tax issue remains one of the most hotly contested issues in the ongoing legislative debate.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Beacon Hill grapples with pot laws | Middlesex East | homenewshere.com
Author: PAT BLAIS
Contact: Contact Us | Site | homenewshere.com
Photo Credit: Associated Press
Website: homenewshere.com | Local news provided by local people
