State Democrats To Take One Last Stab At Legalizing Marijuana This Year

Members of the New York state Assembly work on passing legislation in the Assembly Chamber at the state Capitol, in Albany, N.Y

With just one day left in the legislative session, state lawmakers are mounting a final, frantic push to legalize marijuana in New York state—even as they face continued uncertainty over whether they have the votes necessary to pass the progressive priority, and diminishing interest from Governor Andrew Cuomo.

On Tuesday night, State Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes will introduce yet another version of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which they hope will address lingering concerns about enforcement and how revenue from cannabis sales would be allocated.

Similar to previous iterations, the bill would fully legalize recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21, while creating a new Office of Cannabis Management to regulate medicinal pot and hemp products like CBD. Unlike recent proposals, the bill would prohibit New Yorkers from growing pot in their homes, and could potentially include a clause requiring localities to "opt-in" to legalization, rather than opting out, according to the Buffalo News.

Spokespersons for both Krueger and Peoples-Stokes offices told Gothamist that they were optimistic the legislation could pass this week—though doing so would likely require legislative leaders to agree to stay past Wednesday's deadline.

But despite widespread public support and Democratic majorities in both legislative houses, the path to legalization still faces shaky prospects in the State Senate; a recent tally by LoHud found the legislation is at least two votes shy, largely due to ambivalence or outright opposition among suburban Democrats in Westchester and Long Island, and a pair of outerborough Senators. None of those key legislators appear to have shifted their position in recent days.

Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo, who rejoined negotiations on the bill this past weekend, has since dropped out of the legalization discussion, according to a source in Albany. The governor kicked off 2019 by making legal marijuana a cornerstone of his legislative agenda and then criticized lawmakers for not including his legalization framework in the budget that passed in April.

"His office decided not to continue to be involved, so the version that's coming out today is the result of a decision being made by the two houses," the source told Gothamist.

The major sticking point for Cuomo reportedly relates to language in previous bills that would require 50 percent of revenues from marijuana sales to be reinvested in communities hit hardest by the drug war. After the governor demanded looser restrictions on that funding, lawmakers agreed to tweak the language—though not necessarily to a degree satisfying to both the governor and his fellow Democrats. On Tuesday, Peoples-Stokes indicated that she would be willing to forego a deal this session if the final statute did not have a satisfactory reinvestment commitment.

"I support the concept that communities that have paid the highest price, socially and demographically and economically, should now share in the revenue from the bill," Cuomo told WCNY's Susan Arbetter earlier this morning. "What is the revenue, where is the revenue? That's the question."

Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo, called the notion that the governor was not involved in the most recent negotiations "insane and wrong." But Azzopardi also refused to say whether the governor would issue a message of necessity for a marijuana bill, which would allow lawmakers to bypass the standard three-day aging process and vote on the legislation immediately.

If state reps fail to move legalization over the finish line this year, there is currently a backup plan: a bill to decriminalize marijuana in New York State—again.

Marijuana out of public view has been decriminalized in the Empire State since 1977, but legislation introduced on Sunday night and amended again on Monday would allow records of past low-level marijuana offenses to be sealed, while reducing the fine for non-criminal possession to $50. But advocates and public defenders say it wouldn't be nearly enough.

"Across the state of New York, arrests are happening constantly at extremely high racial disparities, and this bill does nothing to change that," Jeremy Saunders, co-director at VOCAL-NY, told Gothamist. "Cuomo has publicly said decriminalization isn't enough. We agree. He needs to start twisting arms to win legalization with community reinvestment."

With additional reporting from Fred Mogul in Albany.