Budget

Why recreational marijuana legalization won’t be in the state budget

The coronavirus crisis has a lot to do with it.

Governor Cuomo on Wednesday, April 1st.

Governor Cuomo on Wednesday, April 1st. Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo squashed New Yorkers’ high hopes for recreational marijuana legalization.

Despite agreeing to prioritize legal pot as recently as last week, the governor said that it probably won’t make it into this year’s state’s budget. “It’s not likely,” Cuomo said. “Too much, too little time.”

The budget was due by the end of the day on Tuesday. But to be fair, Cuomo and the state Legislature have been consumed with fighting the worst coronavirus outbreak in the country for the past month. 

New York’s COVID-19 crisis has shifted the Legislature’s priorities, as the state faces an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion budget gap, in part due to the virus. The outbreak has also had a significant impact on budget negotiations, as most legislators were unable to operate as they normally would.

“I don’t believe we’ll get there (on legalizing pot) because in truth that is something that had to be talked through and worked through, and the Legislature wasn’t here,” Cuomo told WAMC radio host Alan Chartock on Tuesday. “I was doing this COVID virus.”

However, many have been left wondering why recreational marijuana legalization couldn’t be squeezed into the budget this year. So we’ve decided to answer some of the most asked questions about why fitting marijuana into the state budget just wasn’t doable.

So why isn’t pot in the budget? I thought Cuomo said it was still a priority despite the pandemic.

It’s true that the governor said that he would not pass a bare-bones budget even with COVID-19 ravaging the state, committing to including big-ticket items like marijuana legalization. But even before the global pandemic struck, pot was always going to be tough because Cuomo and the state Legislature don’t agree about what to do with the tax revenues from legalized sales. As recently as the middle of March, they still hadn’t appeared to come to an agreement. Members of the Legislature want a large amount of tax revenues set aside to reinvest in largely minority communities that were disproportionately targeted for marijuana offenses, while the governor wants to remain flexible by avoiding specific earmarks. The same issue got in the way of legalization passing last year.

Why didn’t they keep trying to negotiate?

The short answer is because the state is facing a global pandemic. As much as many would have liked to hash out the final details to legalize pot in the state budget this year, other issues took priority. Such a massive overhaul to state law is no small feat and requires detailed attention, which is understandably focused elsewhere as hospitals struggle to treat patients and lawmakers can’t get within 6 feet of each other. “While legalizing cannabis is necessary to reduce the decades of unjust, racist targeting of communities of color in New York, our state faces a public health crisis right now and efforts to contain COVID-19 demand legislators’ full attention,” Kassandra Frederique, managing director of policy, advocacy and campaigns at the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. Her group has been one of the leading organizations lobbying for recreational pot legalization.

But wouldn’t a new revenue source like pot help the state economy during these trying times?

Some have made that argument, but even in the best of times, the revenues from marijuana sales would be a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the billions in lost revenues that the state is projecting. Once ramped up, the state estimates early revenues would be about $300 million per year. The key phrase is “ramped up.” In the best circumstances, it would take a couple years for stores to open up and for the state to really begin to benefit from the new taxes. In his executive budget, Cuomo only budgeted for about $20 million in revenues for the coming year, which is a negligible amount for any sort of short-term economic recovery efforts. There’s also the fact that those projections were based on a much stronger economy – people may be less willing to spend money on pot now, and an economic downturn would make it more difficult for new businesses to get off the ground. Money is money in the end, but it doesn’t seem like it would be worth pushing through a major rewrite of drug laws and implement a new regulatory structure that isn’t quite ready.

Is there another way recreational marijuana use could be legalized?

Yes. There is nothing tying legalization to the budget, so it could still get passed at any other point during the state legislative session. Cuomo has repeatedly said that it can’t get done outside of the budget because it’s too controversial, and in 2019, he was right. However, the sponsors of the pot legalization bill remain hopeful that the state will still get it done soon “There is no reason we cannot negotiate and pass a nation-leading legalization model when the crisis is over,” state Sen. Liz Krueger told City & State in March.

What about a ballot referendum? Wouldn’t that be easier?

California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maine all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot referendums.

In other states, a ballot referendum can be introduced by a lawmaker or by activists who gain enough petition signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. In 2019, Cuomo posited that New York could legalize recreational marijuana with a referendum. However, New York doesn’t have the infrastructure or political tradition for ballot initiatives, so it’s unlikely that this would happen.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.