Massachusetts Senate Passes Bill Which Will Make Major Changes To Cannabis Policy In The State

Back in February, we  blogged about the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy (the "Committee") releasing a cannabis bill (H. 174/S. 72) through Committee without any opposition. This bill proposed major changes to host community agreements ("HCA"), re-vamped the state's approach to social equity in the industry, and provided a legislative fix to permit on-site consumption establishments.

The bill was amended in another committee and the Senate adopted several amendments. On April 8, the bill (now numbered S. 2801) was passed unanimously by the Senate.

We provide a thorough summary of the provisions of the bill in our prior post (including changes to community impact fees, creation of consumption establishments, updates to the social equity program, and development of the Social Equity Trust Fund). Below we break down the major changes between that version and the version passed by the Senate.