Essex court finds 2023 CCC regulations cannot be applied retroactively

An Essex Superior Court decision on June 10 upheld a contract between the city of Haverhill and a marijuana retailer in the city, finding that regulations issued by the Cannabis Control Commission last September cannot be applied retroactively.

The parties in the case — the city and a business called Haverhill Stem — had entered into a host community agreement in 2018 that required the business to pay the city 3% of its gross sales as a community impact fee for five years.

Stem argued that the CCC’s 2023 regulations governing host community agreements, promulgated under Chapter 180 of the Acts of 2022, applied retroactively, and therefore the impact fee was void. But the court found that the 2023 regulations could only be applied prospectively, to agreements approved after Chapter 180 took effect on Nov. 9, 2022.

“Chapter 180 of the Acts of 2022 … and the resulting amendments to the regulations … do not retroactively govern the parties’ rights and obligations under their Host Community Agreement,” the court wrote.

The court also found that host community agreements executed before the November 2022 date should not be subject to an annual review by the CCC.

“[T]he CCC’s review of the HCA ‘at each license renewal’ applies only to those license applications approved after November 9, 2022,” the court wrote.

The court further stated that “the CCC has no authority to contradict what this Court has concluded is a legislative intent that the 2022 amendments to [Section] 3(d) apply prospectively.”

The Haverhill decision is not binding precedent, but is expected to be relied upon by other courts.