Massachusetts Legislature approves marijuana industry reforms

Massachusetts lawmakers early Monday morning approved a package of significant changes to the state’s booming marijuana industry, answering longstanding calls for reform from advocates and entrepreneurs.

The bill would crack down on steep local fees charged to marijuana operators, steer 15 percent of the state excise tax on recreational pot sales into a fund for disenfranchised cannabis entrepreneurs, make it easier to wipe away records of old marijuana convictions, and green-light a cannabis café pilot program.

The bill was sent to Governor Charlie Baker, who has signaled he is receptive to its broad strokes.

A legislative conference committee — charged with reconciling differences between bills approved by the state House and Senate earlier this year — released its final version of the measure on Sunday shortly before midnight. The late-night compromise was part of a frantic scramble by lawmakers to finish important bills before their formal legislative session ended on July 31.

State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, a co-sponsor of the cannabis measure, said lawmakers were sending Baker “a great bill.”

“It will rebalance the playing field, where so far wealthy corporations have been able buy their way through the licensing process and too many local, small business owners and Black and brown entrepreneurs have been locked out,” she said in a statement, adding that the reforms would “put Massachusetts back among the leading states for racial justice in our economic policy on cannabis.”