Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro sent a letter to leaders in the Massachusetts House and Senate, urging immediate action on governance issues of the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). The letter urged the lawmakers to pass legislation to authorize placing the commission in receivership and appointing a receiver with clear authority over day-to-day operations.
Shapiro addressed the letter to Senate President Karen E. Spilka, Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, Senate Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr, and House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr.,
Since state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien in September 2023, the CCC has deadlocked on the authority to appoint an acting chair. The law delegates the authority to appoint the chair to the treasurer.
Upon being suspended, O’Brien appointed CCC Commissioner Kimberly Roy to serve as acting chair. Soon after, the commission voted to appoint CCC Commissioner Ava Callender Concepcion as acting chair.
The CCC members remain divided on who has the authority to appoint the acting chair, the suspended chairperson, O’Brien, or the commission members. The members also do not agree on who should be the chair.
According to Shapiro’s letter, on June 13, the CCC voted to remove the acting executive director of her day-to-day-responsibilities. The agenda for that meeting did not give notice the CCC would take action on the executive director. According to the meeting packet for commissioners, they planned to discuss and vote on a plan to delegate responsibilities of the executive director to individual department heads.
Shapiro said that, “It is unclear what impact the planned action will have on the operations of the agency.” He added that “the decentralization of management for the daily operations for an agency that has lacked clear lines of authority does not seem to be in the best interest of the agency’s constituency or the people of the Commonwealth.”
Commissioners and CCC staff have been meeting in executive session since May 2022 to draft a governance charter. Since that time, it spent over $160,000 on mediation services to draft that charter.
Shapiro says that even if the members adopted a charter, it would have no force of law and only be as strong as the commission agrees. “Given the commission’s history to date, the charter may be an expensive exercise without lasting impact,” said Shapiro in his letter.
O’Brien has requested a hearing on her suspension, which she has a right to. Shapiro said that regardless of the outcome of that hearing, his office does not have confidence the a governance charter will solve the crisis of leadership at the CCC.
Shapiro also mentioned that the commission structure is unsuitable for agency management. This is due in part to the state’s open meeting law, which prohibits more than two commissioners from discussing matters outside of a publicly posted meeting.
Shapiro urged the legislature to act before its current session ends on July 31. Lawmakers would need to pass a new law to allow them to appoint a leader with the authority to handle the CCC’s daily responsibilities.
See the full letter, below:
