New England Public Radio

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill: Taxes, Budget And Marijuana Lobbying

Key budget leaders in the Massachusetts House have said no new “broad-based” taxes are needed for the next state budget, even though tax revenues for the current fiscal year keep coming up short.

Like most Mondays, we checked in with Matt Murphy, a reporter for the State House News Service in Boston. He explained when lawmakers say they’re not raising “broad-based” taxes, that doesn’t mean no new taxes at all.

Click the audio player above to hear Henry Epp’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill.

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill: Slow Start To New Session, No Marijuana Committee (Yet)

Beacon Hill lawmakers are five weeks into a new two-year session, and things are off to a pretty slow start. Leaders in the Massachusetts legislature haven’t yet assigned members to committees, including a new panel that will examine the state’s new recreational marijuana law. Top Democrats in the legislature, as well as Governor Charlie Baker, have said they’d like to change parts of the voter-passed law in the next few months.

For more, we spoke to Matt Murphy of the State House News Service in Boston. He said the slow start to the marijuana committee could complicate efforts to change the new law.

Click the audio player above to hear Henry Epp’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill.

 

The Short List: Craigslist Marijuana Sales, Sheriff Offers Prisoners For Wall Building, Millennial Politicians Try To Build Clout

NEPR'S WEEK IN REVIEW

What made The Short List this week?

  • The legalization last month of small amounts of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts has been a bit bumpy. It’s still illegal for individuals to sell pot. But we reported this week about a salesperson openly trying to work around the law in a Craigslist ad. (NEPR)
  • Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s offered his inmates to help President-elect Donald Trump fulfill a campaign promise. (WBUR)
  • The 190th session of the Massachusetts state legislature was called to order this week. All 160 state representative s and 40 state senators were sworn into office. Among them a good number of millennials — but do they have any clout? (WMP&I)

Click the audio player above to hear New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan explore these issues with Cynthia Simison of the Springfield Republican and Matt Szafranski  from Western Mass Politics & Insight.

Ads on Craigslist Sell A Plastic Bag Filled With A ‘Gift’ Of Marijuana

In November, voters approved a ballot question that allows adults over 21 to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts. It’s still illegal for individuals to sell it, but one salesperson is openly trying to work around the law.

This past week, some ads on the Craigslist page for Western Massachusetts offered “dispensary grade marijuana.” They appeared just days after Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill delaying legal retail sales of marijuana until the middle of 2018.

An ad posted to “farm & garden services” on the Western Massachusetts Craigslist. (Screen shot taken Jan. 2, 2017)

One of these ads offered sandwich bags containing a gram to just under an ounce of various “strains” for $20 to $325, but it ends with a disclaimer: “I am selling you an empty bag. Marijuana placed In that empty sandwich bag is simply a legal gift.”

But is it?

“The ads are illegal,” Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said. “It’s illegal to sell marijuana in Massachusetts even with the new ballot initiative.”

The new law does allow legal gifts of up to an ounce, but the gift cannot be advertised to the public.

Section 7. Personal use of marijuana […] (4) giving away or otherwise transferring without remuneration up to 1 ounce of marijuana…to a person 21 years of age or older, as long as the transfer is not advertised or promoted to the public.” — text of ballot question

And Sullivan said pretending to sell a bag is a complete end run around the law.

“To say an empty baggie costs $350 is ridiculous,” he said. “I think it’s a clear fraud on its face.”

Sullivan said he’ll ask police to investigate.

(Combined screen shots of some texts we received on Jan. 2, 2017, from the number listed on the Craigslist ad.)

We texted the phone number listed on the Craigslist ad, asking for comment.

The response, from someone who said he was going by the name Corey Hampton, said his friend cards customers to make sure they’re at least 21. And as for the DA’s statement about the ads?

“I just think it’s foolish to waste any more of the taxpayers money on a harmless plant that helps people,” the text read.

But even someone who worked to get the marijuana ballot initiative passed doesn’t support sales like this. Jim Borghesani of the “Yes On 4” coalition said when you regulate marijuana, it means buyers can be assured they’re getting a safe, tested substance and children won’t be able to buy it.

“You need to have somebody who is actually a licensed seller who checks IDs [and] who operates in a licensed facility sell the product,” said Borghesani. “I think it comes down to public safety and — frankly — consumer protection.”

Meanwhile, Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is working to make sure those who sell marijuana legally can deposit their earnings in banks. That would help ensure they pay taxes, bringing marijuana sales clearly into the open.

More transparent than selling plastic bags.

New England Public Radio’s Carrie Healy contributed to this report.

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

Last week, Massachusetts lawmakers rushed through a bill to delay parts of the state’s new recreational marijuana law, including when retail pot stores can open. Governor Charlie Baker has signed that bill. There are more steps the legislature could take to change the ballot measure that voters approved in November. According to reporter Matt Murphy of the State House News Service, the legislature’s next target could be marijuana taxes.

Also this week:

  • A new, two-year legislative session begins. New lawmakers will be sworn in.
  • The latest state revenue numbers will be released. That could determine whether Democrats in the legislature restore funding to some budget items hit by Governor Baker’s December cuts.

Click the audio player above to hear Matt Murphy and Henry Epp discuss the week ahead on Beacon Hill.

 

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and members of his administration are still in Israel on a trade mission. This week a group of state senators, including Stan Rosenberg of Amherst, will travel to Minnesota for a fact-finding trip about health care.

As we do most Mondays, I checked in with State House News Service reporter Matt Murphy, and asked what the lawmakers hope to find in the “land of ten-thousand lakes.”

Plus, Murphy told us what to expect as the first steps of marijuana legalization take effect this week, and we discussed Attorney General Maura Healey’s legal fight with ExxonMobil.

To hear reporter Matt Murphy in conversation with NEPR’s Carrie Healy, click the audio player above.