AS MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS work to craft a budget, facing an ever-shrinking pile of money coming from the federal government and rattled by economic uncertainty, the leaders of one of the state’s most troubled agencies – the Cannabis Control Commission – are saying that they cannot make crucial improvements without more money from the Legislature. But legislators, so far, aren’t buying it. 

According to Travis Ahern, the CCC’s new executive director, the agency needs more money to make key IT infrastructure updates that will fix some of the issues that the agency has come under fire for, like failing to collect $550,000 in licensing fees. 

The commission has asked the Legislature for over $30 million for Fiscal Year 2026, with $2 million allocated towards the IT upgrades.  

Just a few months out from the often-stretched deadline to finalize the budget, the CCC’s ask looks unlikely to come through. Budget proposals from the governor, the House, and the Senate have all capped the commission’s budget at $19.88 million.  

From his perch at the CCC, Ahern describes the roughly $9 million gap as a roadblock to needed upgrades. 

“The best way to optimize operations of this regulatory body is by investing in IT infrastructure,” he said. “We are looking to do the procurement to replace or enhance those systems, but as of right now, especially with [how] the FY26 budget looks, we don’t have the funding to do that. … When people ask [me] how can I reorganize or how can I create efficiencies within the organization, without the proper [IT] tools, it’s really difficult to say.” 

The implications if the agency doesn’t receive this funding go beyond IT infrastructure updates, said Ahern. A training initiative for people from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to participate in the cannabis industry is also at risk of being put on hold. 

The commission has previously said that a budget shortfall led to jobs going unfilled and mandated research and public awareness campaigns being put on hold.  

Legislators are publicly frustrated with the agency, which has drawn unfavorable attention with allegations of harassment, slow regulatory rollouts, power struggles between commissioners following the suspension of the commission chair over allegations of racial insensitivity, and operational failures.  

Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro called the CCC a “rudderless ship” in June 2024. He urged the Legislature to put the agency under receivership and to reorganize the commission’s leadership structure. This March, he called on the agency to conduct an audit over the issue of uncollected fees and to make fixes to its IT systems. 

State Rep. Michael Soter of Bellingham, a Republican who is on the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said that the commission needs to try hard to prove that it is functional before the Legislature allocates any more money to the agency, especially in a year when the state expects limited revenue growth.  

“They need to evaluate what they’ve been doing, and I think they need to kind of look through where they need to make some efficiencies to get the money that they need to make things work,” Soter said of the CCC. “Throwing more money at a problem that no one has put a plan together to fix is not a great way to approach this.” 

State Sen. Michael Moore of Millbury, who has pushed for a bill that would establish an internal audit unit within the commission, said that the commission should look into spending their budget more efficiently to find the money for a new IT system.  

“It’s very difficult when you have an agency that’s had the problems that the [CCC has] had to then come back and ask for additional money when you’ve seen money squandered,” said Moore. “We’ve seen money that was supposed to be brought in as revenue not brought in,” he said, referring to the uncollected licensing fees. “It would be very hard for anyone to give additional resources when they’ve had the managerial problems that they [have] had.” 

Soter said that other legislators didn’t seem particularly keen on increasing the CCC’s budget. When the budget proposal was presented to the House, he said, there was agreement on the commission’s line item. 

“They need to get their act together and earn the respect back to show us that they actually need this,” said Soter. “It’s an excuse to say we can’t do this because you’re not giving us more money. …You’ve got plenty of money. Stop the nonsense and start figuring it out and start rolling up your sleeves.” 

Ahern said that he is ready to roll up his sleeves and make the commission more efficient, but that a better IT infrastructure will give him more information to institute changes. 

It’s “impossible” to respond when people ask “Do you have enough people? Do you have too many people? Should you be shifting priorities within the organization?” said Ahern. “If we were able to more efficiently deal with all of the things that we rely on those IT platforms for, then that would change the way that I would approach managing the organization, administering our mission.” 

One of the chairs on the cannabis policy committee, Rep. Daniel Donahue of Worcester, affirmed his support for the budget as it stands and said that legislators are still considering making reforms at the embattled state agency. 

“The requested IT infrastructure improvements are better suited to the resources made available through IT bonds,” said Donahue in an emailed statement, referring to bond bills targeting IT upgrades. 

In December 2024, the commission’s Acting Chair Bruce Stebbins sent a letter to the chairs of the legislative cannabis policy committee, arguing that the both the commission’s responsibilities and inflation have increased year over year, but the agency’s budget has mostly remained flat at around $19 million. 

“Although the cannabis industry has experienced significant growth and tax revenues have steadily increased, the commission’s budget has not proportionally increased, limiting our ability to meet regulatory requirements and the needs of the industry,” Stebbins wrote.  

Though Ahern said he is disappointed that the agency won’t have the extra money, he will try to find other sources of money and work with other state agencies like the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security to make IT upgrades.  

He’d like to get the agency on track, as far from the scandal-plagued last year as possible. 

“I would love the CCC to get to a position where we’re a boring regulatory agency, and people don’t really think about us,” said Ahern when asked about what his goal for the commission is. “We don’t want to be in the news cycle unless it’s an interesting story on the cannabis industry. That’s where we want to be. We want to be a non-news story.”