It should have been obvious to supervisors, and even commissioners, that CCC staff were unable to carry out a crucial commission initiative.
The B-wordy Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon
Massachusetts Inspector general Jeffrey Shapiro demanded that the Cannabis Control Commission conduct an audit, after failing to collect around $550,000 in license fees since August 20, 2022.
Shapiro, in a letter addressed to Travis Ahern and Bruce Stebbins (the newly appointed executive director) and to the acting chair of the commission, wrote that failure by the agency to collect the fees was an “egregious breakdown”. This suggests that “poor practices and oversight” were at play.
Publicly, in August 2024 the commission acknowledged that they had failed to collect $555.671 of license renewal extension fees. Commissioners allowed license extensions for up to 120 day in August 2022. They also instructed staff to collect license fees prorated to cover this extension. The extension fees were not collected by the commission.
Shapiro found out that staff of the commission was giving extensions before the August 2022 commission vote, without the proper authority.
Shapiro, in a statement to the press said that supervisors and commission members should have known in real-time about CCC’s failure to carry out a crucial initiative.
Since then, the commission has corrected this mistake. It has recouped previously unpaid fees and updated its payment system. Ahern told the media via email that, as of last week, $550,000 in fees had not been collected.
Shapiro stated in his letter the commission needed to perform an audit, “to make sure that current licensees paid all fees applicable and understand fully what revenue was not collected as businesses closed.”
Ahern stated that the Commission is meeting with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), about the concerns outlined in this letter, and will give a “more robust” response to the letter. This should be done within 30 days.
Kimberly Roy demanded a “forensic review” in August of 2024. This was shortly after uncollected fee issues became public knowledge. Forensic auditors examine the financial records of an organization and search for any fraud, misbehavior or irregularities. Roy presented it to the commission as a means of modernizing.
Shapiro noted, that in addition to these uncollected license fees the commission failed to collect as much as $1.2 Million of possible provisional licensing charges. Although technically, no provisional licencee could move on in the licensing or operational process without the payment of the fees, the policy set by the commission requires the payments to be made within 90 calendar days.
Ahern stated that the OIG letter referring to uncollected fees for provisional applications is open to interpretation and that the “fees of provisionally approved applicants will only be due if they choose to move forward to final licensing.”
Kevin Gilnack is the president of Equitable Opportunities Now. He said this $1.2m claim was “pretty sensational,” and that “no harm” had been done by failing to enforce it.
The provisional fee is required for all advances. [so] Gilnack said, “It doesn’t seem like CCC has lost any fees.”
Shapiro asked the Legislature last summer to name a receiver, restructure agency and clarify leadership roles for the commission chair and executive director. The Treasurer Deb goldberg, after being accused of making “racially-ethnically and culturally offensive statements,” suspended Shannon O’Brien and then fired her. Goldberg appoints the Commission Chair.
O’Brien says she has been fired because of her efforts to fix the problems at the agency. O’Brien is actively fighting the dismissal. Many in the cannabis industry have been frustrated by internal conflicts, accusations of misconduct, and a long-winded regulatory process.
Shapiro stated that the need for an agency receiver is no longer necessary, but reforms are still needed. He said the commission must determine the role and responsibilities for the executive director and chair. Shapiro said that until this issue is resolved, accountability and responsibility will remain elusive. The Commission may struggle to find its feet to chart the right path.
The commission has asked the Legislature for an increased amount—$30.8 million—in the state’s budget for the fiscal year 2026. In fiscal year 2018, the budget of the commission was $19.8million.
Ahern stated that an increase in budget would be vital to help the Commission update its “outdated IT Infrastructure” and that it “would also address updating the software which tracks and accounts for the license and application fees.”
This article was originally published on CommonWealth Beacon. It is reproduced here with a Creative Commons License.
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