FILED ON: 1/24/2020

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2479

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act relative to host community agreements.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 3(d) of Chapter 94G of the General Laws is hereby deleted and replaced in its entirety as follows:-

Unless such obligation is waived as provided for in this paragraph, a marijuana establishment or a medical marijuana treatment center seeking to operate or continue to operate in a municipality which permits such operation shall execute an agreement with the host community setting forth the conditions to have a marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center located within the host community which shall include, but not be limited to, all stipulations of responsibilities between the host community and the marijuana establishment or a medical marijuana treatment center. The host community agreement requirement in this subsection may be waived at the host community’s discretion, provided that the municipality offers the commission a copy of a written waiver form executed by both the host community and the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center. An agreement between a marijuana establishment or a medical marijuana treatment center and a host community may include a community impact fee for the host community; provided, however, that the community impact fee shall be reasonably related to the costs imposed upon the municipality by the operation of the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center and shall not amount to more than 3 per cent of the gross sales of the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center or be effective for longer than 5 years. The community impact fee shall encompass all payments and obligations, including but not limited to monetary payments, in kind contributions, and charitable contributions, by the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center to the municipality or to any other organization pursuant to negotiations with the host community. No contractual financial obligation of any kind outside of the community impact fee that is explicitly or implicitly a factor considered in or a condition of the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center siting in the municipality shall be enforceable. The five-year period stated in this section shall begin on the date the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center commences operation of business and shall expire five years after said date. Any cost to a city or town imposed by the operation of a marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center shall be documented and considered a public record as defined by clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4. The commission has the express authority to review, regulate, and enforce all host community agreements under this section.

SECTION 2. Section 4(a ½) of chapter 94G is hereby amended by inserting after subsection (xxxiv) the following section:-

(xxxv): host community agreement requirements and procedures, consistent with this chapter, including without limitation criteria for the types of costs imposed upon the municipality by the operation of the marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center that qualify for calculating the community impact fee.