Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission - Enforcement Activities - Memorandum of Understanding

2025 Regular Session

SB 220 eliminates the mandatory MOU between ATCC and the Comptroller for inspections/enforcement, keeps cooperation, and allows voluntary MOUs, boosting ATCC's independence.

Hearing 1/16 at 3:00 p.m.

SB 220 — Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission (ATCC) — Enforcement Activities; Memorandum of Understanding

Short summary: SB 220 removes a statutory requirement that the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission (ATCC) and the Comptroller must enter into a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperative inspections and other enforcement activities relating to alcohol and tobacco. The bill retains and clarifies the agencies’ obligation to cooperate and share information and personnel, and preserves the Commission’s authority to enter voluntary MOUs and other cooperative arrangements when appropriate.

Purpose and intent

Update statutory language to reflect ATCC’s status as an independent agency with internal administrative capacity.

Eliminate a mandated MOU requirement with the Comptroller while preserving ongoing cooperation and the ability to negotiate MOUs when beneficial.

Reduce unnecessary statutorily mandated coordination mechanisms now that ATCC has built its own administrative and enforcement capabilities.

Key provisions

Repeals the clause in Article — Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis §1‑321 that required the Commission and the Comptroller to “enter into a memorandum of understanding for cooperative activities in inspections and other enforcement activities relating to the alcohol and tobacco laws of the State.”

Maintains the existing statutory requirement that ATCC and the Comptroller “cooperate and share information and personnel” in investigations of licensed premises and other enforcement matters related to alcohol and tobacco.

Keeps language authorizing the Commission and its Executive Director to enter MOUs and other cooperative arrangements with federal, State, and local units to reduce duplication and administrative costs — but makes such agreements discretionary rather than mandatory.

Who is affected

Primary: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission and the Comptroller’s Office (both retain cooperative duties).

Secondary: State enforcement operations involving alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis; related regulatory and administrative units that previously provided shared services.

Small businesses / licensees: No direct regulatory change for licensees; ATCC characterizes impact on small businesses as minimal or none.

Fiscal and operational impact

Effective date: July 1, 2025.

Fiscal Note (Maryland Department of Legislative Services): No material effect on State operations or finances. ATCC reports its Regulatory & Administrative Services Bureau is staffed and equipped to operate without the Comptroller’s administrative support. Local governments not directly affected.

Small business impact: ATCC rates the bill as having minimal or no economic impact on small businesses; DLS concurs.

Context / timing

Rationale: ATCC was reconstituted and funded in recent years (Cannabis Reform Act, FY 2024 budget) and has assumed administrative functions previously provided by the Comptroller’s Field Enforcement Division. The existing MOU between ATCC and Comptroller (dated Aug. 1, 2024) terminates June 30, 2025; the bill’s July 1, 2025 effective date aligns with that termination.

Cross-file: HB 112 (companion/departmental request).

Practical effect

Removes a statutory “must” to sign a specific MOU while leaving intact a statutory duty to cooperate and the practical ability to enter MOUs or cooperative agreements where useful. The change formalizes ATCC’s operational independence without disrupting ongoing investigatory and enforcement cooperation with the Comptroller or other agencies.