It’s an unprecedented situation. Goldberg has spent close to $750,000 in taxpayer dollars on legal fees during the fight with O’Brien and O’Brien has probably spent a similar amount or more on private attorneys. O’Brien has also continued to collect her $196,551 annual salary during her suspension.
Marijuana
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis commissioner pushing for forensic audit of agency
Forensic audits typically examine an organization’s financial records and look for fraud, misconduct, or irregularities
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis commission, 2 members down, squabbles over who should lead
Three votes are needed to appoint an acting chair, but the three commissioners – Nurys Camargo, Bruce Stebbins, and Kimberly Roy – couldn’t agree on who it should be.
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis Commission says it failed to collect $500,000 in licensing fees
In an email, a spokesperson for the agency said a license renewal extension fee was implemented in August 2022 to give applicants for cannabis licenses more time to file them. Extensions were granted to 161 applicants, the email said, but the fees were never collected by commission staff. The total amount owed in licensing fees was $555,671, according to the email.
Posted inMarijuana
State crackdown on hemp products uneven
The 2018 Farm Act removed hemp from the definition of marijuana and deemed it an agricultural commodity, a shift that has led to the creation of an industry centered around many of the same intoxicating products found at marijuana dispensaries but without the heavy regulation on how it’s produced and who can consume it.
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis commission governance headed for legislative review
In a letter to House Speaker Ron Mariano, Donahue said the committee plans to hold public hearings to revisit the statute that created the commission, particularly the responsibilities and powers of the chair of the commission and its executive director.
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis regulators move closer to removing two-driver rule
The commission voted back in December 2023 to remove the two-driver rule, a requirement that every delivery be carried out by two drivers for security purposes.
Posted inState Government
O’Brien has pocketed nearly $170,000 while suspended
O‘Brien was suspended in September 2023. The calculation of what she has been paid since being suspended is based on her $181,722 salary in 2023 ($15,143 a month) and her pay of $108,608 through the first six months of this year.
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis Commission unveils proposed leadership changes
“This is us first recognizing that we agree that there was a need for some clarity and this is our way of addressing some of that and providing clarity in terms of who does what,” said acting Commission chair Ava Callender Concepcion.
Posted inMarijuana
Legislators wary of ‘nuclear option’ with cannabis commission
“I want to underscore, as someone who has been in the government for a long time, that receivership is a really big deal,” said Rep. Rob Consalvo of Boston, one of the vice chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Policy.