The Cannabis Control Commission will not be placed under the authority of a receiver, despite testimony from the Inspector General which suggested the agency is “rudderless” and in need of the Legislature’s immediate attention.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Ron Mariano, the House members of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy said the committee has identified a number of legislative changes which could improve the situation at the regulatory agency, it’s chairman said that putting the body under the authority of a receiver isn’t the right step right now.

“The Committee has considered many options, including the IG’s recommendation of receivership. Recently, the Senate rejected an amendment that would install a receiver at the CCC. At this time, we believe there are alternative paths forward that would be less disruptive to the industry and more directly address our concerns,” Committee Chair Rep. Dan Donahue said in a statement.

Calls for a receiver came after IG Jeffrey Shapiro told the committee that the agency responsible for the state’s $7 billion dollar legal marijuana industry was broken as a matter of statute, with state laws leaving the question of who is in charge of what duties at the commission too ambiguous for commissioners to figure out on their own. He also expressed concerns over complaints his office had received about the pace of the commission’s work, and news reports about leadership problems there.

Shapiro suggested during a hearing of the Joint Committee that the legislature fix the law that legalized marijuana in Massachusetts and ordered the creation of the commission, which he said currently assigns authority to both the appointed commissioners and the agency’s senior employee.

“The industry needs the attention of the Commission and the professional leadership and not a furtherance of the issues that have been a hallmark of the Commission, nearly since inception. That is not to say that the Commission is not performing and has not done any good work. But without stability and ultimately corrective structural changes the Commission will have trouble reaching its highest potential,” Shapiro said in July.

.According to the committee’s letter, they have identified three key areas of Chapter 10 of the General Laws which could be addressed to clear up responsibilities at the commission, but not before the end of this year’s formal sessions.

The committee will, however, hold hearings this fall over potential changes to the state’s marijuana laws, in part to give the public and stakeholders time to weigh in on the CCC’s newly released Governance Charter, which is currently open for public review and comment, Donahue said.

“The Committee will continue its careful, measured, and diligent approach to rectifying the structural problems at the CCC. Given the ongoing comment period and the need to hear from stakeholders in response to incoming information, we do not plan on having a legislative solution by the end of the full formal session,” he said.

A spokesperson for Shapiro’s office said that it was his job to bring the issue up when he found it, even if he left lawmakers little time to act.

“Inspector General Shapiro has a statutory responsibility to raise concerns about fraud, waste and abuse in the expenditure of public funds. He flagged concerns of waste in the operation and governance at the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Control Commission to the Legislature. The Inspector General is gratified that the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy plans to hold additional hearings this Fall on the statutory issues that he has raised in his June 18, 2024 letter, and his July 9, 2024, testimony.” they said.

They’re also, the spokesperson said, going to keep their eye on the CCC as things move forward.

“The OIG will continue to monitor the operation and governance issues at the CCC,” they said.