The leading Republican in New York Assembly discloses that he expects marijuana legalization to happen in the following year.
On Wednesday, Will Barclay (the Assembly minority leader) told WWNY-TV that the initiative is still going back and forth and suspects that it’ll be legalized during the 2021 session.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has submitted two marijuana legalization proposals in his yearly budget requests. However, negotiations between his department and legislature haven’t produced a passable recommendation.
Barclay asserted that he thought legalization would happen this year but it had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrea Stewart, the senate majority leader, asserted in November she expects the policy change to advance into 2021. However, she pointed out that legislators will have to determine how marijuana tax revenue from sales will be disseminated.
She added that the conversation has been about what to do with the proceeds. She posed questions concerning how the state will include differently affected communities in this industry’s economy and how it will ensure the resources to differently affected communities are received.
In November, Andrew said that they’ll be pressure to legalize marijuana in New York and legislators will accent it “this year” to cushion the financial loss from the COVID19 pandemic.
Another top aide stated in October that the state administration plans on giving the cannabis legalization initiative a second chance in 2021. In a separate interview, Cuomo said that he believes policy change will be achieved soon.
Since the Senate Democrats acquired a supermajority in November’s election, they’ll have an upper hand in deciding the cannabis legalization program’s details in the 2021 session. If the governor was to veto any proposal, they’ll have sufficient votes to surpass him.
Incase legalization is accomplished; it will be supported by most New York voters. Based on a poll released in November, the voters favour the reform in a ratio of 2:1
