Amendment ID: S2090-22-R3

3rd Redraft Amendment 22

Cannabis Advisory Board

Ms. Chang-Diaz moves to amend the bill ,in section 2, by striking out lines 79 through 113 and inserting in place thereof the following:-

"Section 77. (a) There shall be a cannabis advisory board to study and make recommendations to the cannabis control commission on the regulation and taxation of marijuana. The board shall consist of: the executive director of the cannabis control commission, who shall serve as chair; the commissioner of revenue or a designee; the commissioner of public health or a designee; the commissioner of agricultural resources or a designee; the superintendent of the state police or a designee; the president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Inc. or a designee; the president of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, Inc. or a designee; the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Inc. or a designee; 5 members to be appointed by the state treasurer who shall have experience in marijuana cultivation, marijuana retailing, marijuana product manufacturing, laboratory sciences and toxicology and in providing legal services to marijuana businesses; 5 members to be appointed by the governor who shall have experience in minority business development, economic development strategies for under-resourced communities, farming or representing the interests of farmers, representing the interests of employers and municipal law enforcement personnel with advanced training in impairment detection and evaluation; and 5 members to be appointed by the attorney general who shall have experience in social welfare or social justice, criminal justice reform to mitigate the disproportionate impact of drug prosecutions on communities of color, minority business ownership, women-owned business ownership and the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders. Members of the board shall serve for terms of 2 years. Members of the board shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for their expenses actually and necessarily incurred in the discharge of their official duties. Members of the board shall not be state employees for the purposes of chapter 268A by virtue of their service on the board.  For the purposes of taking action at a meeting, a majority of the members of the board present and voting shall constitute a quorum.

(b) The cannabis advisory board shall: (i) consider all matters submitted to it by the commission; (ii) on its own initiative, recommend to the commission guidelines, rules and regulations and any changes to guidelines, rules and regulations that the advisory board considers important or necessary for the commission’s review and consideration; and (iii) advise on the preparation of regulations pursuant to chapter 94G.

(c) The chair may appoint subcommittees in order to expedite the work of the board; provided, however, that the chair shall appoint: (i) a subcommittee on public health to develop recommendations on products, labelling, marketing, advertising, related public health issues, potency, which may include a recommended maximum limit for individual servings of marijuana products, and packaging, which may include the development and implementation of a public health warning to appear on marijuana products; (ii) a subcommittee on public safety and community mitigation to develop recommendations on law enforcement, property, business and consumer issues; (iii) a subcommittee on the cannabis industry to develop recommendations on cultivation, processing, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, seed-to-sale tracking and market stability; and (iv) a subcommittee on market participation to develop recommendations on women, minority and veteran-owned businesses, local agriculture and growing cooperatives.".