A bill introduced today in the New York Senate would establish stricter regulations around where licensed marijuana stores can operate and how exemptions to proximity restrictions are granted.
New York State Capitol Building.
Filed by State Senator Jeremy Cooney (D), Senate Bill 8278 has been referred to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations. The legislation would amend Section 85 of New York’s cannabis law to set minimum distance requirements for adult-use marijuana dispensaries while outlining a formal process for proximity protection waiver requests.
Under the bill, licensed adult-use dispensaries would need to be at least 1,000 feet apart in municipalities with populations of 20,000 or more. In smaller jurisdictions, the minimum distance would double to 2,000 feet. The legislation would also give the Cannabis Control Board authority to consider waiver requests but would require a rigorous and transparent process.
The bill mandates that waiver decisions involve quantitative analysis, public hearings, and written input from local governments. Dispensary operators could appeal proximity waivers to an administrative law judge if their business is directly affected. The board would be barred from granting waivers if illegal marijuana stores are operating nearby or if the waiver reduces the distance requirement by more than 5%.
Other limits include a prohibition on granting proximity waivers to stores open for less than three years, or to stores seeking to operate closer to smaller retailers. The board would be allowed to issue only one proximity protection waiver per licensed dispensary.
Senator Cooney, who has sponsored several marijuana-related measures in the past, has not yet commented publicly on the bill. If approved by the committee, the measure would advance to the full Senate for consideration.
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