Mass. lawmakers mull receivership for cannabis agency

After years of dysfunction, the state's cannabis agency is at risk of heading into receivership, at least if Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro gets his way.

Why it matters: The Cannabis Control Commission has been plagued by infighting, scandals, high turnover and yearslong delays of policy changes.

• 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.