The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) overpaid on a legal contract, according to a recently released audit by state examiners.
Per the audit and media reports, the AMCC overpaid the Webster Henry law firm by $204,197.55 for legal work.
AMCC director John McMillan said the overpayment was due to the Alabama Board of Adjustments approving the extra amount.
“The initial contract by the Contract Review Committee was approved and next thing we knew was we got an invoice that was from the firm that was far in excess of what the contract was approved at,” McMillan said in a recent interview with 1819 News. We just told them, ‘We can’t pay that. It’s more than we authorized to pay on the contract.’ Then their option was to go before the Board of Adjustment. I don’t know what else our office could’ve done. There’s nothing else we could’ve done unless we were going to send someone over there to the law office to monitor the hourly work they were putting in everyday.”
State Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence) told 1819 News, “The whole thing has just been a disappointment as far as the implementation. It’s just very disappointing.”
“It’s just taking longer,” he added. “Quite frankly, I don’t know how you overpay attorneys by $200,000. That’s just crazy.”
Other findings by auditors include:
- The Commission does not have a Records Disposition Authority (RDA) approved by the State Records Commission and did not submit annual RDA Implementation Reports to the State Records Commission as required.
- The Commission did not comply with all requirements of the Alabama Open Meetings Act.
- The Commission did not adopt rules in accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act to establish a fee schedule.
- The Commission adopted an administrative rule relating to reporting lost or stolen medical cannabis cards that conflicts with statutes.
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