Today, the Legislature is sending a great bill to Governor Baker’s desk. An Act Relative to Equity in the Cannabis Industry will take on some of the industry’s biggest issues, reforming the Host-Community Agreement process and establishing a Social Equity Trust Fund. It will rebalance the playing field, where so far wealthy corporations have been able buy their way through the licensing process and too many local, small business owners and Black and brown entrepreneurs have been locked out. It is a game changer, and it will also put Massachusetts back among the leading states for racial justice in our economic policy on cannabis. 

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I’m so grateful for the work of my co-chair of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, Rep. Donahue, for partnering with me to craft this omnibus reform bill and advance it through the House and Senate. Many thanks are also due to Equitable Opportunities Now, BECMA, the Cannabis Control Commission, and former Commissioners Shaleen Title and Steve Hoffman. This bill is the result of years of advocacy and organizing in and outside the building. I’m thrilled it’s now just inches away from becoming law.