Lawmakers approve Cannabis Control Commission budget
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The Cannabis Control Commission was granted a $2.7 million budget from the state Legislature.
The Cannabis Control Commission has an executive director, temporary office space and soon it will have the money it needs to build out a legal marijuana market in Massachusetts.
The Legislature on Thursday passed a supplemental budget (H 4052) appropriating $2.7 million for the operations of the CCC and sent it to Gov. Charlie Baker. The amount approved Thursday is less than the $3.6 million in operating funds the CCC had requested in early November but is expected to satisfy the commission's needs.
The House and Senate approved the bill during sessions on Thursday, and one senator used the lightly attending gathering to air some concerns.
Sen. Jason Lewis said he and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr plan to send a letter to the Senate Ways and Means Committee next week requesting that the next supplemental spending bill include funding for public awareness campaigns around drugged driving and youth addiction, efforts which are to be led by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and the Department of Public Health.
Lawmakers had already appropriated $2.3 million for the commission, though most of that money remains in a Cannabis Cost Reserve account controlled by the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The spending bill passed Thursday would give the commission a total of $5 million for fiscal year 2018.
Among the budget line items the CCC requested funding for are $534,167 for the five commissioner salaries, $470,834 for senior agency staff, $665,300 for license application processing and enforcement, and $283,750 for community outreach.
Without the additional appropriation, the CCC would run out of money "sometime in the early part of calendar 2018," Chairman Steven Hoffman said Tuesday.
The Legislature appropriated $2.7 million to the CCC rather than the $3.6 million the agency requested because the commission's request included costs associated with a tax collection system and the Department of Revenue, not the CCC, will cover that cost, according to Rep. Mark Cusack, House chair of the Marijuana Policy Committee.
The CCC has also requested $3.9 million in capital funds for the remainder of fiscal year 2018, and Cusack said a decision on the capital funding will be made at a later date.
With its funding for fiscal 2018 in place, the CCC will soon have to embark on a more complete budgeting exercise as it submits its budget request to the administration for all 12 months of fiscal year 2019. State budget writers plan to meet next week to begin the fiscal 2019 budget process and Baker will file his fiscal 2019 budget proposal in January.
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