Someone whose name sounds like a truck part once sang, "Take it slow, it’ll work itself out fine. All we need is just a little patience."
Patience, however, may be in short supply.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg’s familiarity with the song catalogue of Guns ‘n Roses may be questionable, but they’ve clearly been practicing their snake dance.
The two Democratic leaders this week deftly wriggled out of the firm deadlines established by the new law legalizing marijuana that would have had retail sales beginning in January 2018. And in doing so, the Legislature – or the fraction of it that was present to witness the vote – startled Beacon Hill from its holiday malaise.
The House and Senate, meeting in only lame-duck informal sessions at this time of year, hatched a surprise on Wednesday, Dec. 28 when it rushed through a previously unseen bill delaying nearly all major implementation dates in the recreational marijuana law by six months.
Some considered it an assault on small-d democracy to pass such an impactful bill with just over a handful of lawmakers present. And marijuana legalization advocates criticized lawmakers for sharing the details only the night before the vote, and not giving the initial law a chance to work.
Ultimately, however, Rosenberg and DeLeo had been dropping hints for weeks that it could be coming, and as the pace of action in the branches picked up this week no one tried to stop it. Doing so would have just kicked the issue into 2017, when it could have emerged for debate and possibly, a recorded vote.
Pot remains legal to possess, use, grow and gift to friends, but the timeline for everything from the establishment of the Triple C – the Cannabis Control Commission – to the acceptance of retail license applications and the actual issuance of licenses have been pushed out.
Now legal sales of non-medical marijuana must begin no later than July 2018.
"I think a six-month delay is perfectly appropriate, sure. Make sure we do it right," Gov. Charlie Baker commented on his way to signing the bill two days later.
Rosenberg and DeLeo insisted that the extra time was needed for lawmakers to consider ways to "strengthen" the bill, namely addressing the tax structure and building in public health and safety protections.
To wait until the new Legislature is sworn in next week, Rosenberg told Boston Herald Radio, would be to invite a lengthier process of waiting for committees to be set up, a bill to be filed, a public hearing held and votes scheduled and taken – the normal legislative process.
To the marijuana activists who won the ballot campaign in November, Rosenberg told them not to worry. While it may be rare for the Legislature to alter voter-backed ballot laws so soon after passage, the "intent" of the voters will be protected, the Amherst Democrat said.
Unfortunately, that sort of depends on someone’s definition of intent.
Legislative leaders behind the delay and the push to refine the law would have you believe that voters weren’t actually voting on the details of the question, just the principle of legal marijuana. They may be right, but it’s hard to prove that.
But the fact is nearly 54 percent of voters approved a ballot question authorizing retail marijuana sales by January 2018, and that is no longer going to happen.
Baker actually had multiple reasons to sign the bill, not the least of which is the fact that the governor is in no rush to see the doors swing open on retail pot shops. Baker vehemently opposed recreational marijuana, but he’s also a politician who believes in the sanctity of the ballot system and the ability of voters to write their own laws when the Legislature won’t.
So Baker will live with recreational marijuana – eventually. But the delay not only allows more time to add restrictions and regulations on the market, but it opens a pressure valve on the current fiscal 2017 budget.
Instead of having to find tens of millions of dollars to get the Cannabis Control Commission up and running this spring just months after Baker found a need to slash $98 million in spending, Baker and lawmakers can now build a funding source into the fiscal 2018 budget.
That’s not to say the governor won’t have some ideas on the matter next month when he’s due to present his budget proposal for fiscal 2018, but they won’t require digging through the state’s pockets for change more than midway through a fiscal year.
On the flip side, the delay means six more months that the state won’t be collecting taxes on marijuana sales that could have generated revenue for the budget over the second half of fiscal 2018.
At the very least, that money would have paid for the half-a-million dollars in salary increases for lawmakers finalized this week by the governor.
Baker has an obligation under the constitution every two years to review median household income trends in Massachusetts over the previous two years and adjust legislator pay accordingly. Using Census data, Baker found median incomes climbed 4.19 percent from 2013 to 2015, and therefore lawmakers are in line for a $2,515 raise in base pay to $62,547.
Lawmakers on Beacon Hill, who often supplement their public incomes with outside jobs, have not seen a pay hike since 2009. In fact, over those eight years they’ve seen their base pay rate decrease, and some were miffed when Gov. Deval Patrick certified a freeze in pay as he walked out the door in 2015.
So needless to say, legislators were pleased with the news. "Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The governor gave us a raise. We’ll take what the governor gave us," Rep. Paul Donato said.
In the past, the legislative pay review has also translated into salary adjustments for the governor, but Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito will not be taking a pay increase, according to an aide. Just another thing they’re willing to delay.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Statehouse Roundup – What’s The Rush On Marijuana?
Author: Matt Murphy
Contact: 781-682-4850
Photo Credit: Katie Lannan
Website: Wicked Local Braintree
