Cannabis commission unveils new structure, as lawmakers pursue overhaul

The Cannabis Control Commission has rolled out a new governance charter — three years after starting the process and a week after state lawmakers pushed forward on a bill to significantly restructure the agency.

The 16-page document was created to clearly delineate the duties of commissioners, the executive director and staff at the agency, following months of mediation sessions. The charter was approved by commissioners at their May meeting, and appears to have been posted to the commission's website earlier this month.

The need for a new charter that clarifies the roles of the commission's chair and executive director was highlighted by a scathing inspector general report last year.

"Our goal with this charter was to solidify and refine agency procedures to build upon the work of the individuals who were instrumental in getting the agency off the ground," said Executive Director Travis Ahern, who took over the job earlier this year. "Coming into the commission, I prioritized finishing the charter to ensure we can move forward effectively and efficiently in our mission to oversee a safe, equitable cannabis industry in Massachusetts."

Acting Chair Bruce Stebbins said in a statement he's "confident that this charter will help the commission enter a new era with a renewed focus on our work.”

The commission's new governance model could be short-lived if legislation that passed in the House unanimously last week becomes law. That bill now sits in the state Senate.

The measure would downsize the agency from five full-time commissioners to a panel of two part-time commissioners and one full-time chair. The board currently has only three commissioners, as two seats are vacant. The House bill would shift authority for naming the commission members to the governor, removing the treasurer and attorney general from the process.

House Speaker Ron Mariano has said the high-profile legal battle between ousted commission chair Shannon O'Brien and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg "got us where we thought we had to take it away from the treasurer."

The House bill also seeks to give the commission's chairperson, rather than the entire body of commissioners, the power to hire the agency's executive director. Cannabis Policy Committee Chairman Rep. Daniel Donahue last summer pointed to contradictory sections in the commission's statute that potentially confused the powers of the chair and the agency's executive director.

"There was some ambiguity that was there on exactly who was in charge and who had what responsibilities," Donahue said last month. "So we hope that this way, having it a little bit clearer, will have a little bit of a better relationship up and down from the chair to the executive director, and hopefully have a little more effective management."

Material from the State House News Service and WBUR's Walter Wuthmann was used in this report.