Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
A deal on compromise legislation changing the voter-approved marijuana law does not appear likely to emerge for final votes Friday, while lawmakers from both branches are at the State House to vote on a compromise fiscal 2018 budget.
The six-member conference committee reconciling bills changing the voter law is now planning to meet after the House and Senate end their formal sessions Friday afternoon, House and Senate officials said, foreclosing the possibility of the Legislature voting on a budget and marijuana deal in the same session.
"It's not going to happen, I think, overnight," House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano, the House's lead marijuana negotiator, told the News Service just after noon Friday. "But I think we've made significant progress."
After a roughly 24-hour suspension of talks amid growing concern that the budget and marijuana negotiations had become intertwined, the conference committee had planned to meet Friday at noon. But when a fiscal 2018 budget deal was announced Thursday evening, the Senate scheduled a caucus to discuss the budget deal at noon.
An aide to Sen. Patricia Jehlen, the lead Senate conferee, confirmed that the plan is for the conference committee to meet Friday post-session. Jehlen was meeting with staff in her office on Friday at noon, the aide said.
The conference committee missed its June 30 deadline to get a bill overhauling the 2016 marijuana legalization ballot law on the governor's desk.
The House and Senate remain divided, according to people close to the process, on the rate of taxation for marijuana sales and local control over the siting of retail marijuana stores -- issues that are both addressed in the existing voter law.
Without providing details, Mariano on Friday said the conferees still have a list of issues they need to work through before arriving at a resolution.
"We still have work to do. There are a couple of major sticking points and then there are a lot of small points I think we can knock out of the way pretty quickly," Mariano said. He added, "Hopefully we're going to continue to meet and resolve this."
While marijuana use, possession and the right to grow plants at home became legal last year, the Legislature in December delayed other keys aspects of the law -- including the timeline to license retail stores -- by six months to give lawmakers time to reconsider other elements of the law.
The self-imposed deadline that passed last week was put in place in order to make sure that the new regulatory body, which will be known as the Cannabis Control Commission, had a year to get up and running and begin licensing retail pot stores by July 2018.
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who was given oversight of the marijuana industry by the voter law but may see her oversight curtailed by the Legislature, has doubts about whether the state will be able to meet the extended deadlines, her office said Thursday in a statement.
"As we await a resolution from the conference committee, we continue to have great concerns about the Commonwealth's ability to meet currently prescribed deadlines," Chandra Allard, communications director for Goldberg, said in a statement. "Additionally, as we have emphasized in the past, any implementation of the law would require immediate allocation of funding. Without it, our office has done everything we can."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legal marijuana law amendments remain cloudy - Lowell Sun Online
Author: Colin A. Young
Contact: Contact Us - Lowell Sun Online
Photo Credit: Flickr
Website: Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic - Lowell Sun Online
The six-member conference committee reconciling bills changing the voter law is now planning to meet after the House and Senate end their formal sessions Friday afternoon, House and Senate officials said, foreclosing the possibility of the Legislature voting on a budget and marijuana deal in the same session.
"It's not going to happen, I think, overnight," House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano, the House's lead marijuana negotiator, told the News Service just after noon Friday. "But I think we've made significant progress."
After a roughly 24-hour suspension of talks amid growing concern that the budget and marijuana negotiations had become intertwined, the conference committee had planned to meet Friday at noon. But when a fiscal 2018 budget deal was announced Thursday evening, the Senate scheduled a caucus to discuss the budget deal at noon.
An aide to Sen. Patricia Jehlen, the lead Senate conferee, confirmed that the plan is for the conference committee to meet Friday post-session. Jehlen was meeting with staff in her office on Friday at noon, the aide said.
The conference committee missed its June 30 deadline to get a bill overhauling the 2016 marijuana legalization ballot law on the governor's desk.
The House and Senate remain divided, according to people close to the process, on the rate of taxation for marijuana sales and local control over the siting of retail marijuana stores -- issues that are both addressed in the existing voter law.
Without providing details, Mariano on Friday said the conferees still have a list of issues they need to work through before arriving at a resolution.
"We still have work to do. There are a couple of major sticking points and then there are a lot of small points I think we can knock out of the way pretty quickly," Mariano said. He added, "Hopefully we're going to continue to meet and resolve this."
While marijuana use, possession and the right to grow plants at home became legal last year, the Legislature in December delayed other keys aspects of the law -- including the timeline to license retail stores -- by six months to give lawmakers time to reconsider other elements of the law.
The self-imposed deadline that passed last week was put in place in order to make sure that the new regulatory body, which will be known as the Cannabis Control Commission, had a year to get up and running and begin licensing retail pot stores by July 2018.
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who was given oversight of the marijuana industry by the voter law but may see her oversight curtailed by the Legislature, has doubts about whether the state will be able to meet the extended deadlines, her office said Thursday in a statement.
"As we await a resolution from the conference committee, we continue to have great concerns about the Commonwealth's ability to meet currently prescribed deadlines," Chandra Allard, communications director for Goldberg, said in a statement. "Additionally, as we have emphasized in the past, any implementation of the law would require immediate allocation of funding. Without it, our office has done everything we can."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legal marijuana law amendments remain cloudy - Lowell Sun Online
Author: Colin A. Young
Contact: Contact Us - Lowell Sun Online
Photo Credit: Flickr
Website: Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic - Lowell Sun Online
