Pot agency seeking $7.5M
Flickr/Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism
The Cannabis Control Commission is seeking more funding for five commissioner salaries, agency staff, license applications and community outreach.
Now that its executive director is in place, the Cannabis Control Commission is turning its attention to money with a request to the Legislature for $7.5 million this fiscal year to support its work to launch a legal marijuana industry in Massachusetts.
The commission's budget request, submitted to the legislative leaders and the Baker administration last Thursday, seeks $3.6 million in operating funds and another $3.9 million in capital funds.
"This is adequate, in our opinion, to do the job we have been appointed to do," CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said. "There is no fluff in this budget. I'm smart enough, even though I'm new to state government, I know how it works and I suspect there will be negotiation ... there is no fluff in this request. This is what we need to do the job.
Among the budget line items the CCC requested funding for are $534,167 for the five commissioner salaries, $470,834 for senior agency staff, $665,300 for license application processing and enforcement, and $283,750 for community outreach.
Hoffman said the commission's request is lower than the $10 million estimate Treasurer Deborah Goldberg made earlier this year because the treasurer's estimate was for a full year budget, while the CCC's request will only cover the 10 months from the CCC's start on Sept. 1. The CCC also "managed to whittle a little bit down in terms of the technology," the chairman said.
Hoffman said he expects that revenues the CCC brings in once legal marijuana sales start next summer will "more than pay us back" for the commission's startup funding.
"What the state can expect back from this, in terms of revenues, will far exceed the request we're making of the taxpayers," he said. "It will take a couple of years for that to happen, but I believe this will be a great return on investment for the taxpayers of the state of Massachusetts."
The Legislature will not be asked to appropriate the full $7.5 million. Already, lawmakers have appropriated $2.3 million to the CCC, though most of that money remains in a Cannabis Cost Reserve account controlled by the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The Legislature will be asked to approve an additional $5.2 million to give the CCC a total fiscal 2018 budget of $7.5 million.
Legislators included $2 million for the Cannabis Cost Reserve in the fiscal year 2018 budget, and the Office of Administration and Finance transferred $500,000 from the Cannabis Costs Reserve to the CCC in September to support initial start-up costs for the commission. Hoffman said Tuesday the administration has not yet transferred the remaining funds.
"A and F is still holding it, but I have spent enough time with Secretary (Michael) Heffernan that we're tracking and he knows exactly what we're spending exactly when he needs, and I have his complete commitment that the funds will be released as we need them," Hoffman said. "So that is not a concern of mine."
Asked by when the CCC will needs the additional funding, Hoffman declined to set a deadline.
"The sooner the better. The technology is the big key because technology takes some time to be developed, so as soon as possible. I'm not going to put a deadline on this," he said. "We'll manage whenever we get the money."
Previously, Hoffman had said the commission was "desperately trying" to get its supplemental funding request approved by the Legislature by Nov. 15, when formal sessions come to an end for the year.
"That's the deadline that we're trying to hit and we're going to get there," Hoffman said Oct. 17. He added, "I'm very confident, but we have to hit it before they break for their holiday."
The CCC's funding request could be handled by the Legislature during informal sessions, though it could be blocked if just one member objects. Formal sessions will resume in January 2018.
The CCC will soon have to embark on a more complete budgeting excercise as it submits its budget request to the administration for all 12 months of fiscal year 2019, which will begin July 1, 2018. Baker will file his fiscal 2019 budget proposal in January.
"Now that we're done with the numbers -- we're not done with the process, but we're done with the numbers -- for fiscal '18, now we start fiscal '19," Hoffman said Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, Hoffman officially resigned as acting interim executive director of the CCC. The chairman had been serving in that capacity until the CCC hired a full-time director. Shawn Collins, formerly Goldberg's legislative director, took over as the CCC's executive director on Monday.
The CCC is still working out of seven cubicles on the third floor of One Ashburton Place -- Collins took the last remaining desk when he started on Monday -- and is still attempting to secure temporary office space.
Two weeks ago, Hoffman said the CCC, working with the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, had identified office space in downtown Boston that it could use as a temporary headquarters and said he expected the commission to move in around Dec. 1.
On Tuesday, Hoffman said no lease has been signed, though he said "we're very close."
"We're only going to sign a lease for very small initial space ... It's going to be enough for like 15 or 16 of us, but it's going to be better than the cubicles," Hoffman said. "I'm hopeful we'll sign a lease today. I'm working on a hope -- and it might be a hope rather than reality -- that we'll get in there by December 1, plus or minus."
Asked to clarify that he intended to sign a lease Tuesday, Hoffman said, "This week."
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