Massachusetts House lawmakers are expected to take up a bill this week that would change the marijuana law endorsed by voters last November.
A Massachusetts House source told MassLive.com that House lawmakers are aiming for a Thursday vote.
The State House News Service, an independent wire service covering Beacon Hill, reported Monday that the bill will likely cover the “tax rate on legal marijuana sales, the oversight structure and the process by which cities and towns can choose to opt out of hosting marijuana dispensaries in their communities.”
Marijuana legalization advocates have been lobbying for lawmakers to hold off on any changes as the industry gets up and running in Massachusetts, a major market on the US eastern seaboard.
Massachusetts voters passed a ballot question broadly legalizing recreational marijuana for people age 21 years and older in November. Massachusetts legalized marijuana for medical use in 2012.
The marijuana legalization law crafted by advocates lays out a tax rate of up to 12 percent for marijuana. That’s based on a 6.25 percent state sales tax, a 3.75 percent excise tax, and a 2 percent local option tax.
The current law also calls for the set-up of a Cannabis Control Commission, under the state treasurer’s office, in a way to mirror the treasurer’s oversight of liquor licenses.
Beacon Hill’s Marijuana Policy Committee has spent months taking testimony as part of an effort to craft legislation to send to the governor. The committee is chaired by Rep. Mark Cusack, D-Braintree, and Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville.
Beacon Hill leaders, including Gov. Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, largely opposed marijuana legalization. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, backed legalization but is supportive of changes to the ballot question.
The Marijuana Policy Committee is set to meet on Wednesday at noon in Room A-1 for an executive session, when the bill could first surface for a vote. One question that could be answered at the executive session: Whether the Senate side of the committee will back the bill, or seek to craft its own version.
Parts of the law are already in effect: Possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and gifting it to someone else, is legal. Home growing is also legal, with some limits.
Massachusetts lawmakers in January delayed the regulatory structure for retail pot shops by six months, pushing the earliest time they could open to July 2018.
credit:masslive.com
