THE CANNABIS CONTROL Commission, already struggling amidst a leadership vacuum, is now saying it may have to eliminate some of its programs, including a touted training initiative for applicants seeking social equity licenses, because the Legislature failed to fully fund its budget.
At a meeting of the commission on Thursday, officials said the budget approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor provided $19.8 million – $2.8 million less than what the agency had requested.
Agency officials said the budget shortfall has resulted in jobs going unfilled and mandated research and public awareness campaigns being put on hold. The officials said social equity programming and outreach is in danger and a proposal for a forensic audit of the agency has been shelved.
“We have a lot of challenges right now in our budget,” said Deborah Hilton-Creek, the acting executive director of the agency. “It is not looking that great for us, but we continue to do the best we can with the little we have.”
Commissioners seemed particularly concerned about the potential lack of funding for the agency’s social equity programming – which already has 229 individuals accepted into its cohort. Commissioners Kimberly Roy and Nurys Camargo pushed Hilton-Creek to give a timeline for when there would be more answers about the funding and program schedule. Roy asked for more updates on when the program classes would start, whether there would be a reduction in what was offered, and other changes.
“Are we saying that we are putting [the technical training for the social equity cohort] on hold?” asked Camargo.
Hilton-Creek clarified that the program isn’t being put on hold for now because there is funding to get the program started but that the agency will struggle with unfunded mandates in the next year.
“We’re going after supplemental funding to support some of these mandates,” said Hilton-Creek. “We know we are a leader in the country in terms of the [social equity program] and we want to hold onto that. We’re just wanting to present this portrait to the Legislature so that they know that we are having difficulty and we have mandates we need to meet.”
Part of the pitch for cannabis legalization in Massachusetts was to help those who have been harmed by the war on drugs. Many cannabis operators who have social equity license types have struggled in the industry with little support while facing unique challenges. The social equity trust fund – a program to provide capital to those businesses that have social equity owners – took years to kick off even as businesses began to close due to a legislative error in how the law was worded.
The social equity technical training is one of the most concrete services that the commission has offered to people looking to get into the cannabis industry who have been disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs or come from significantly disadvantaged backgrounds.
At a time when the commission has had little to brag about as its leadership experiences significant conflict and turnover, the agency has time and time again bragged about being a nationwide leader in being the first state to put a focus on ensuring the participation of those harmed by the war on drugs in the cannabis industry.
“We need to let the legislators know that we do have some mandates and we are leading in the country,” said Camargo.
This was the first public meeting since Shannon O’Brien was fired as chair of the commission and Bruce Stebbins was appointed the acting chair. Commissioners didn’t discuss the changes at the meeting and Stebbins pushed opening comments off until the next public meeting.
Meeting with the press following the public meeting, Stebbins made clear the budget shortfall means there will be no outside forensic auditor of the commission. Roy initially called for a forensic audit following allegations that the agency was dealing with $2 million in missing or stolen licensing fees. The commission later admitted $500,000 in fees had not been collected.
“Our budget is tight and that would require an expenditure that I don’t think we have,” said Stebbins. “As you heard our treasurer, Commissioner Roy, talk about it, [we are] using the expertise on our current team to really look at our systems, look at our processes.”
Roy pitched the internal audit as a way for the agency to modernize. “We are no longer a start-up. We are an established agency now,” said Roy. “What worked when we had a handful of licensees and a handful of employees no longer works for a $7 billion industry.”
Roy and Hilton-Creek both invited state oversight agencies to come in and do an audit of the agency. Hilton-Creek particularly had open arms for state agencies to step in.
“Any external entities, state auditors, who may want to come in and audit the commission– to me, that is a benefit for us,” said Hilton-Creek. “If we have any state entity that wants to come in and audit us, we welcome them doing that with some restriction. The staff now might be going crazy – don’t say that! But it is a benefit to us.”
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