Notices of Public Hearing (Published 09/13/2024)

Cannabis Control Commission - 935 CMR 500.000 & 501.000

Notice of Public Hearing

Notice is hereby provided that in accordance with G. L. c. 30A § 2, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (“Commission”) will convene a public hearing for purposes of gathering comments, ideas, and information relative to the proposed adoption of regulations revising 935 CMR 500.000: Adult Use of Marijuana and 935 CMR 501.000: Medical Use of Marijuana. The regulations were promulgated pursuant to G. L. c. 94G, § 4, and G. L. c. 94I.

The amendments to the Commission’s Adult Use regulations include changes to Microbusinesses where these licenses are allowed to hold other license types. In addition, these amendments pertain to Delivery where the licensee may use one driver to deliver certain amounts of cannabis, and whose businesses are now allowed to own 3 Delivery Operator and 3 Delivery Courier Licenses. The amendments to the Commission’s Medical Use of Marijuana regulations include the ability for Patients to request a telehealth appointment for a Patient’s initial visit to a provider and now would allow for providers to be out of state.

Scheduled hearing date, time and location: Monday, October 7, 2024, at 10:00AM EST.

The Public Hearing will take place at the Commissions headquarters: 

Cannabis Control Commission
Union Station
2 Washington Square
Worcester, MA 01604

A link to view the Public Hearing will be published at: https://mass-cannabis-control.com/calendar/

In advance of the public hearing, the text of the proposed regulations may be viewed by visiting the Commission’s website at https://mass-cannabis-control.com/, requested by emailing Commission@cccmass.com, or by calling the Commission at (774) 415-0200 .

Anyone wishing to offer testimony on these regulations can appear in person on the date above or email Commission@cccmass.com to request the virtual hearing link and participate remotely. Alternatively, written testimony may also be submitted to the same email address or address below, with ‘Regulation Comment’ in the subject line. All submissions should include the submitters’ full name, and organization or affiliation, if any. 

Comments must be received by 5:00PM EST on October 7, 2024.
Submissions may be subject to disclosure pursuant to the public records law, G. L. c.66, § 10. Additionally, please find the accompanying Small Business Impact Statements in accordance with M.G.L. c. 30A, § 2 attached. 

CMR No: 935 CMR 500.000
Small Business Impact Statement

(As required by M.G.L. c. 30A §§ 2, 3 & 5) 

• Estimate of the Number of Small Businesses Impacted by the Regulation:

  679
  

• Will small businesses have to create, file, or issue additional reports?

  No.  

• Will small businesses have to implement additional recordkeeping procedures?

  No. 

• Will small businesses have to provide additional administrative oversight?

  No.

• Will small businesses have to hire additional employees in order to comply with the proposed regulation?

  No.

• Does compliance with the regulation require small businesses to hire other professionals (e.g. a lawyer, accountant, engineer, etc.)?

  No.  

• Does the regulation require small businesses to purchase a product or make any other capital investments in order to comply with the regulation?

  No.  

• Are performance standards more appropriate than design/operational standards to accomplish the regulatory objective?

  
  (Performance standards express requirements in terms of outcomes, giving the regulated party flexibility to achieve regulatory objectives and design/operational standards specify exactly what actions regulated parties must take.)

  No.  
  

• Do any other regulations duplicate or conflict with the proposed regulation?

  No.  

• Does the regulation require small businesses to cooperate with audits, inspections, or other regulatory enforcement activities?

  Yes. Commission licensees are subject to audit, inspections, and regulatory enforcement activities.  

• Does the regulation require small businesses to provide educational services to keep up to date with regulatory requirements?

  No.

• Is the regulation likely to deter the formation of small businesses in Massachusetts?

  No.  

• Is the regulation likely to encourage the formation of small businesses in Massachusetts?

  Yes. The amendements to microbusiness licenses encourages the formation of additional small businesses. 

• Does the regulation provide for less stringent compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  Yes. Reduction in number of agents in a vehicle for a delivery

• Does the regulation establish less stringent schedules or deadlines for compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  No.  

• Did the agency consolidate or simplify compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  Yes. These amendements help small business by requiring less burdensome mandates.

• Can performance standards for small businesses replace design or operational standards without hindering delivery of the regulatory objective?

  No.

• Are there alternative regulatory methods that would minimize the adverse impact on small businesses?

  No.

Energy Resources, Department of
225 CMR 27.00 

NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT AND HEARING

Notice is hereby given that the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), acting under Section 41 of Chapter 179 of the Acts of 2022 (Act), codified as G.L. c. 25A, § 20, and in conformance with Chapter 30A of the General Laws, is holding a public hearing on the newly proposed regulation 225 CMR 27.00 Building Energy Reporting. The regulation implements the requirements of St. 2022, c. 179, § 41, codified as G.L. c. 25A, § 20, requiring utilities for and building owners of “Large Buildings” in the Commonwealth to report the total amounts of energy consumed on an annual basis to DOER for inclusion in a public facing report and database on DOER’s website. The regulation covers which properties are subject to building energy reporting requirements, the reporting process for utilities and building owners, alternative compliance pathways, the enforcement provisions for entities that fail to comply with their reporting obligations, the treatment of personally identifying information that is reported to DOER, and other provisions related to the administration of these regulations.

A virtual public hearing will be conducted to receive verbal and written comments on the regulation.

Location: Virtual Hearing via Zoom
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMtduGurzouH9epByXLQS9E_8BrU4ujlfdk
Date: September 25^th 2024, 1-3pm

 Verbal testimony will be accepted at the hearing; however, parties may also provide written copies of their testimony. Written comments will be accepted beginning August 19, 2024 and ending at 5 pm on September 25^th, 2024. DOER requests that written comments be submitted as attached pdf files to DOER.BER@mass.gov, with the words BER Public Comment in the subject line. Alternatively, comments can be submitted via mail to:
Lyn Huckabee at the Department of Energy Resources, 100 Cambridge Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02114. 

Copies of the proposed regulations may be obtained from the DOER website at https://www.mass.gov/buildingenergyreporting or by emailing DOER.BER@mass.gov.

Language interpretation services are available upon request. To request this service, please email DOER.BER@mass.gov at least four (4) business days prior to the September 25^th hearing. Please include your name, the event name and date, the language requested, and your phone number should we have any questions.

BY ORDER OF:
Elizabeth Mahony, Commissioner
Department of Energy Resources 

CMR No: 225 CMR 27.00
Small Business Impact Statement

(As required by M.G.L. c. 30A §§ 2, 3 & 5) 

• Estimate of the Number of Small Businesses Impacted by the Regulation:

  Entities with compliance obligations pursuant to this statute and regulation are not typically “small businesses.” There are two potential avenues through which a small business could be subject to this regulation. The first avenue is as an owner of a parcel containing buildings with a combined built area of over 20,000 square feet that has non-utility provided energy consumption. DOER estimates that some small industrial businesses with large warehouses might meet these criteria. The second avenue is a small business is a lessee in a building that is located on a parcel with over 20,000 square feet of built area and has non-utility provided fuel ordered, delivered and charged directly to the lessee. Such a lessee may receive a request from the building owner to provide the lessee’s energy usage to the building owner so the building owner can comply with their reporting obligations under 225 CMR 27.00. DOER expects this impact to be limited to certain commercial and industrial businesses.
  

• Will small businesses have to create, file, or issue additional reports?

  Yes. Any small businesses subject to the regulation would have to report their non-utility provided energy usage to either DOER or the owner of their building.

• Will small businesses have to implement additional recordkeeping procedures?

  No.

• Will small businesses have to provide additional administrative oversight?

  No. DOER expects any additional administrative oversight for small businesses subject to the regulation to be minimal.

• Will small businesses have to hire additional employees in order to comply with the proposed regulation?

  No.

• Does compliance with the regulation require small businesses to hire other professionals (e.g. a lawyer, accountant, engineer, etc.)?

  Yes. Small businesses subject to the regulation would need to hire third-party verification services for energy reporting submitted to DOER for the first and every fifth year after that they report to DOER.

• Does the regulation require small businesses to purchase a product or make any other capital investments in order to comply with the regulation?

  No.  

• Are performance standards more appropriate than design/operational standards to accomplish the regulatory objective?

  
  (Performance standards express requirements in terms of outcomes, giving the regulated party flexibility to achieve regulatory objectives and design/operational standards specify exactly what actions regulated parties must take.)

  No. The statute and regulation set the threshold for being a covered property with reporting obligation by building size.
  

• Do any other regulations duplicate or conflict with the proposed regulation?

  Yes. Large buildings located in Boston and Cambridge may have reporting obligations under Boston’s BERDO or Cambridge’s BEUDO ordinance as well as this regulation. However, the statute authorizing this regulation permits Boston and Cambridge to continue with their building reporting ordinances. This regulation differs from BERDO and BEUDO in that it only requires building owners to provide nonutility energy usage information.

• Does the regulation require small businesses to cooperate with audits, inspections, or other regulatory enforcement activities?

  No. Under the regulation, DOER reserves the ability to audit any information submitted to DOER and, upon reasonable notice, perform site visits. This is a standard DOER regulatory provision and is not expected to be utilized frequently.

• Does the regulation require small businesses to provide educational services to keep up to date with regulatory requirements?

  No.  

• Is the regulation likely to deter the formation of small businesses in Massachusetts?

  No.  

• Is the regulation likely to encourage the formation of small businesses in Massachusetts?

  No.

• Does the regulation provide for less stringent compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  No.

• Does the regulation establish less stringent schedules or deadlines for compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  No. 

• Did the agency consolidate or simplify compliance or reporting requirements for small businesses?

  No.  

• Can performance standards for small businesses replace design or operational standards without hindering delivery of the regulatory objective?

  No. The statute and regulation set the threshold for being a covered property with reporting obligations by building size.

• Are there alternative regulatory methods that would minimize the adverse impact on small businesses?

  No.