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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2544 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 171
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Dawne Shand
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act to modernize the cannabis regulatory environment.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Dawne Shand1st Essex1/16/2025 1 of 8
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2544 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 171
By Representative Shand of Newburyport, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 171) of
Dawne Shand relative to the cannabis regulatory environment. Cannabis Policy.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
_______________
An Act to modernize the cannabis regulatory environment.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 94G of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby
2amended by inserting before the definition of “Cannabinoid” the following definition:-
3 “Agent registration card”, the identification card currently and validly issued by the
4 commission to a marijuana establishment or laboratory employee or agent, but not to a
5licensee, which shall entitle the holder to perform services marijuana establishments or
6laboratories.
7 SECTION 2. Section 1 of chapter 94G of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby
8amended by inserting after the definition of “Mycotoxin” the following definitions:-
9 “Owner”, any person or entity owning directly or indirectly through parent or holding
10company, or otherwise, 10 percent or more of the interest in a licensee, 2 of 8
11 “Person or Entity Having Direct Control”, any person or entity having direct control over
12the operations of a marijuana establishment, which satisfies one or more of the following criteria:
13 (a) An owner;
14 (b) A person or entity that possesses a voting interest of 10 percent or greater in a
15marijuana establishment;
16 (c) A close associate;
17 (d) A person or entity that has the right to control or authority, through contract or
18otherwise including, but not limited to: (1) To appoint more than 50% of the directors or their
19equivalent; (2) To appoint or remove corporate-level officers or their equivalent; or (3) To earn
2010 percent or more of the profits or collect more than 10 percent of the dividends.
21 (e) A court appointee or assignee pursuant to an agreement for a general assignment or
22assignment for the benefit of creditors; or
23 (f) A third-party technology platform provider that possesses any financial interest in a
24marijuana delivery licensee including, but not limited to, a delivery agreement or other
25agreement for services.
26 “Person or Entity Having Indirect Control”, any person or entity having indirect control
27over operations of a marijuana establishment. It specifically includes any person or entity having
28direct control over an indirect holding or parent company of the applicant, and the chief
29executive officer and executive director of those companies, or any person or entity in a position
30indirectly to control the decision-making of a marijuana establishment. 3 of 8
31 SECTION 3. Section 4 of chapter 94G subsection (a1/2)(xxix), as so appearing, is hereby
32amended by inserting in subsection (a1/2)(xxix)(6) after the word “marijuana” the following
33words:-
34 ;provided that the commission shall not prohibit advertising, marketing and branding of
35sales, discounts, and customer loyalty programs within a Marijuana Establishment, through a
36Delivery service, on an internet website maintained by a Marijuana Establishment, or through an
37opt-in email marketing campaign;
38 SECTION 4. Section 7 of chapter 94G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking
39paragraph 1 of subsection (a) and inserting in place thereof the following words:-
40 (1) possessing, using, purchasing, processing and/or manufacturing not more than 3
41ounces or less of marijuana, except that not more than 15 grams of marijuana may be in the form
42of marijuana concentrate and not more than 1.5 grams of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may be
43contained in a single or multiple edible, beverage or other ingestible products.
44 SECTION 5. Section 12 of chapter 94G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting
45the following subsection:-
46 (i)(1) Any employee, agent, volunteer or other person must register with the commission
47prior to engaging in any on-site services to a marijuana establishment or independent testing
48laboratory. The commission shall issue a single agent registration card to an individual, which
49agent registration card shall entitle the holder to provide such services at one or more marijuana
50establishments or independent testing laboratories. An agent registration card shall be valid for
51six years from the date of issuance. An agent shall be required to sign and submit a self-
52attestation form to the commission every 2 years from the date of issuance to verify the agent’s 4 of 8
53compliance with all agent registration card requirements. A licensee shall verify the validity of
54the agent registration cards.
55 (2) The commission shall not require a fee for agent registration card requests made by
56any social equity program participants and/or verified employee(s) of any social equity
57businesses.
58 SECTION 6. Section 15 of chapter 94G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting
59in the first sentence of subsection (a) paragraph (1) after the word “resources” the following
60words:-
61 ;provided that the maximum batch size required by the Commission shall not be smaller
62than 40 pounds.
63 SECTION 7. Section 15 of chapter 94G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting
64in the last sentence of subsection (a) paragraph (1) after the word “ingredients.” the following
65words:-
66 The commission, in collaboration with Independent Testing Labs and Marijuana
67Establishments, shall review such regulations and testing protocols, including, but not limited to,
68its testing batch size requirements, residual and pesticide limits, and “Total Viable Aerobic
69Bacteria (CFU/g)” and “Total Yeast and Mold (CFU/g)” tests, on an annual basis to ensure
70compliance with the most recent industry standards, research, data, and typical microbial
71composition in an outdoor grow in New England using best cultivation practices. The
72commission shall report its findings and plans to update such regulations and testing protocols to
73the relevant appointing authorities and the state legislature on a bi-annual basis. 5 of 8
74 SECTION 8. Section 15 of chapter 94G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting
75in the first sentence of subsection (a) paragraph (1) after the word “ingredients.” the following
76words:-
77 “The commission shall not require testing of environmental media (e.g. soils, solid
78growing media, and water) beyond finished marijuana and marijuana product testing.”
79 SECTION 9. Section 16 of chapter 94G of the General Laws is hereby amended by
80striking out the existing language in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following
81section:-
82 Section 16. (a) No Person or Entity having Direct or Indirect Control may become a
83licensee or Person or Entity having Direct or Indirect Control of more than 6 marijuana retailers,
843 medical marijuana treatment center licenses, 3 marijuana product manufacturer licenses and 3
85marijuana cultivator licenses; provided however that any licensee or any person or entity having
86direct or indirect control may become a person or entity having direct or indirect control of up to
874 additional marijuana retailer licenses or medical marijuana treatment center licenses if (i) such
88marijuana retailer licenses are majority owned by a social equity business, economic
89empowerment business, a Massachusetts Minority Business Enterprises (MBE), Women
90Business Enterprises (WBE), or Veteran Business Enterprises (VBE) with valid certification
91from the Supplier Diversity Office of the Massachusetts Operational Services Division as a
92Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE); and (ii) such person or entity owns directly or
93indirectly through a parent or holding company, trust, or otherwise, no more than 35 percent of
94the interest of the business; provided however that until 1-year from the passage of this Act, no
95Person or Entity having Direct or Indirect Control may become a Person or Entity having Direct 6 of 8
96or Indirect Control of more than 4 marijuana retailers, and until 2-years from the passage of this
97Act, no Person or Entity having Direct or Indirect Control may become a Person or Entity having
98Direct or Indirect Control of more than 5 marijuana retailers.
99 (b) The commission shall adopt regulations to establish requirements that a Person or
100Entity seeking to have Direct or Indirect Control of more than 3 marijuana retailers must
101purchase a marijuana establishment or medical marijuana treatment center license authorized to
102commence operations by the commission; provided that priority consideration is given to the
103purchase of such marijuana retailer licenses that are majority owned by a social equity business,
104economic empowerment business, a Massachusetts Minority Business Enterprises (MBE),
105Women Business Enterprises (WBE), or Veteran Business Enterprises (VBE) with valid
106certification from the Supplier Diversity Office of the Massachusetts Operational Services
107Division.
108 SECTION 10. Chapter 94G of the Massachusetts General Laws shall be amended by
109adding after Section 22, the following section:
110 Section 23.
111 (a) The Commission shall collect, compile, and make available to the public on its Open
112Data Platform, the following data from independent testing laboratories as defined in Section 15
113of this Chapter:
114 Industry average for,
115 1) Failure rates for Pesticides
116 2) Failure rates for Heavy metals 7 of 8
117 3) Failure rates for Microbiological contaminants
118 4) Failure rates for Residual solvents
119 5) Failure rates for Mycotoxins
120 6) Total THC for flower
121 7) Total THC for Marijuana Vaporizer Devices
122 8) Total THC for concentrates
123 Per licensed Independent Testing Laboratory, their average for
124 1) Failure rates for Pesticides
125 2) Failure rates for Heavy metals
126 3) Failure rates for Microbiological contaminants
127 4) Failure rates for Residual solvents
128 5) Failure rates for Mycotoxins
129 6) Total THC for flower
130 7) Total THC for Marijuana Vaporizer Devices
131 8) Total THC for concentrates
132 (b)The initial data report shall include all prior Independent Testing Laboratory data
133submitted to the Commission. The initial report shall be published per Independent Testing 8 of 8
134Laboratory per quarter inclusive of reports. Subsequent data reports shall be updated and
135published on a quarterly basis detailing information from the preceding quarter.
136 (c)The Commission shall investigate and publicly report the reason for the discrepancy
137for individual Independent Testing Laboratories that are statistically significant outliers in terms
138of their testing results.
139 (d)The Commission shall promulgate regulations in accordance with this section no later
140than one year after the effective date of this act.
141 SECTION 11. Section 34 of Chapter 94C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022
142Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words “one ounce of marihuana” in line 18
143and inserting in place thereof the following words:- “three ounces of marijuana”.
144 SECTION 12. The commission shall promulgate or amend regulations as necessary to be
145consistent with Section 1-11 not later than 365 days from the effective date of this act.