A BILL TO LEGALIZE recreational marijuana in New York is dead for now, its sponsor said, ending a push by lawmakers and advocates to pass the measure before the end of the scheduled legislative session Wednesday.
"Through months of negotiation and conversation with the Governor's office and my legislative colleagues, we made great strides to improve our bill and bring more people on board," state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat who sponsored the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, said in a statement. "We came very close to crossing the finish line, but we ran out of time."
Despite support for the broad goal of legalization from leaders of the Democratic state legislature and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, lawmakers were ultimately unable to agree on the details of the bill and similarly clashed with Cuomo, who has proposed his own regulatory framework. Three-way talks between Cuomo's office and lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly took place over the weekend but had reportedly stalled by Sunday night. Cuomo and lawmakers disagreed in particular on how tax revenue from cannabis sales should be distributed.