New York's cannabis farmers are pleased with the state Legislature's one-house budget proposals, which are calling for millions of dollars to be spent on the state's cannabis industry.
The state Senate and Assembly both included $100,000 for the Cannabis Farmers Alliance in their one-house budgets. The Assembly also allocated a further $5 million to establish an adult-use cannabis and cultivator and microbusiness revolving loan fund and $100,000 for the Cannabis Association of New York. The state Senate allocated $5 million to fund track-and-trace software for cultivators and another $2 million for the Cornell ILR Cannabis Workforce Initiative, while also recommending that a significant amount of future hires at the state Office of Cannabis Management be routed to enforcement.
Last year, the Cannabis Social Equity Coalition pushed for a $100 million revolving loan fund to help with start-up costs and job training efforts, but that effort didn't bear fruit in the final budget. Cannabis Farmer Alliance President Joseph Calderone told City & State that growers have taken a more pragmatic approach this year after realizing the realities of the state Legislature, especially since lawmakers must manage a bevy of other complicated issues during budget negotiations.
"We're going up against housing. We're going up against public schools. We're going up against Medicaid, which runs in the tens of billions and collectively in the hundreds of billions," Calderone said. "So we represent maybe a half percent of some of those entire budgets, and that's what's realistic because the legislators have a lot on their plate."
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