NORTHAMPTON — Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said while he thinks adults should be able to choose whether to use marijuana, he won’t campaign for the November ballot question on legalization, which he says has “big policy gaps.”
In an interview Tuesday with the Gazette, Rosenberg declined to endorse the ballot question, which aims to tax and regulate recreational marijuana, saying voters will decide whether or not cannabis should be legal.
“Adults should be able to decide if they want to smoke,” the Amherst Democrat said.
Other state political leaders, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Gov. Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey oppose legalizing recreational marijuana.
Rosenberg indicated his problem isn’t with legalization, but with this way of doing it.
Rosenberg said the bill fails to account for some of the concerns that have arisen out of Colorado’s and Washington’s legalization of marijuana — the regulation and control of edible products, a reliable way to deal with driving under the influence and the proper tax rate. He said there are questions about whether it would be enough to pay for regulatory costs, let alone possible law enforcement and substance abuse treatment costs. Lawmakers identified these concerns and others during a legal weed junket to Colorado in January.
Before that, Rosenberg last year pushed for the Legislature to draft its own ballot question on legal marijuana in order to ensure that concerns like those were addressed. But the proposal was shot down by Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, he said.
Now, Rosenberg said, some lawmakers are working on a bill that would address concerns about the ballot question, which the senator said he expects to pass.
In an hourlong visit, Rosenberg also discussed the need for charter school reform, the proposed tax hike on millionaires, and a plan to bolster early childhood education. And he reflected on the mixed success the Legislature had on regulating two different parts of the so-called sharing economy: Airbnb and Uber.
Baker earlier this month signed into law a bill regulating ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. It imposed a 20-cent fee on all trips, and set requirements for background checks and insurance. The passage followed months of debate and a reconciliation of several different versions.
Compare that to the Legilature’s attempt to consider a measure that would have taxed Airbnb rentals at the same rate as hotels and motels in municipalities that have such taxes. That was a move that Airbnb was not only in favor of, but actively advertised in support of, Rosenberg said.
“It’s rare that an industry says ‘Tax me please,’” he said.
Rosenberg said Baker, who said he initially supported the measure, backed down after voicing conern about the taxation of personal vacation homes — and when he was “whip-sawed” by anti-tax advocates such as Grover Norquist, who questioned the governor’s willingness to stick to an earlier pledge not to raise taxes.
The Airbnb taxes would have paid for an extra jump in the state earned income tax credit, which benefits low- and moderate-income people. Baker did sign into law an increase in the tax credit from 15 to 23 percent of earnings, but the Airbnb tax would have allowed that to go up to 28 percent. Rosenberg said his goal is to eventually have that reach 30 percent.
Rosenberg said lawmakers must change the way that charter schools are funded in the state. In Massachusetts, students’ tuition is paid from their home districts’ coffers, while in other states that money comes from the state budget.
He said regardless of the result of the November referendum on whether to increase the number of charter schools allowed in the state, the Legilature must adopt the Foundation Budget Review Commission’s reccomendations.
The commission last year recommended changing the state’s education funding formula to amount to millions in new state spending.
And to help fund education all the way up to the university level, Rosenberg has his eyes on the passage of the so-called “fair share” amendment to the state Constitution, which would raise taxes on those earning more than $1 million. That measure will likely be put to voters in 2018.
Based on rough calculations, Rosenberg believes that additional tax revenue, coupled with existing new growth, would allow the state to pay the over $1 billion needed for universal public pre-kindergarten and to bring higher education funding back to acceptable levels.
He said he will be rolling out a “kids first” agenda in the coming months, which will outline the importance of education, nutritional and medical coverage in ensuring that a child becomes a resilient adult. The pre-kindergarten piece of that, he said, is crucial.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com