§ 99-ii. New York state cannabis revenue fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance a special fund to be known as the "New York state cannabis revenue fund".

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

2. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the department of taxation and finance, pursuant to the provisions of Article 20-C of the tax law and all other moneys credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the state from receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the fund as defined in this section and depositing them into the fund according to law.

2-a. Revenues deposited into this fund pursuant to § 15 of the cannabis law shall first be used to reimburse the state general fund for any funds transferred to this fund from the state general fund for the purposes of supporting expenditures authorized under paragraph (d) of subdivision three of this section.

3. The moneys in such fund shall be expended for the following purposes:

(a) Reasonable costs incurred by the department of taxation and finance for administering and collecting the taxes imposed by this part.

(b) Reasonable costs incurred by the office of cannabis management and the cannabis control board for implementing, administering, and enforcing the marihuana regulation and taxation act.

(c) Actual and necessary costs incurred by the office of cannabis management and the cannabis control board, and the urban development corporation, related to the administration of incubators and other assistance to qualified social and economic equity applicants including the administration, capitalization, and provision of low and zero interest loans to such applicants pursuant to section sixteen-ee of the urban development corporation act. Such costs shall be paid out of revenues received, including, but not limited to, from special one-time fees paid by registered organizations pursuant to § 63 of the cannabis law.

(d) subject to available appropriations and providing that no more than fifty million dollars in funding, shall be made available, whether directly or indirectly for investment in a private debt or equity fund formed pursuant to subdivision thirty-two of § 1678 of the public authorities law or to cover capital costs associated with establishing conditional adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries for operation by social equity licensees duly licensed pursuant to Article 2 of the cannabis law. Such capital costs shall include all costs, including closely related ancillary costs, related to the leasing, planning, design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, furnishing, and equipping of such adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries, to the extent such work has been undertaken or costs for such work incurred by: (i) the office of cannabis management and the cannabis control board, (ii) the dormitory authority of the state of New York, or any subsidiary thereof, under agreement with the office of cannabis management and the cannabis control board, or with the private debt or equity fund formed pursuant to subdivision thirty-two of § 1678 of the public authorities law, or (iii) the private debt or equity fund formed pursuant to subdivision thirty-two of § 1678 of the public authorities law. Any repayment of the state's investment by the fund, as authorized in this paragraph shall be deposited in the New York state cannabis revenue fund.

(e) Beginning with the two thousand twenty-two–two thousand twenty-three fiscal year and continuing through the two thousand thirty-two–two thousand thirty-three fiscal year, the commissioner of taxation and finance shall annually disburse the following sums for the purposes of data collection and reporting:

(i) Reasonable costs incurred by the office of cannabis management to track and report data related to the licensing of cannabis businesses, including the geographic location, structure, and function of licensed cannabis businesses, and demographic data, including race, ethnicity, and gender, of applicants and license holders. The cannabis control board shall publish reports on its findings annually and shall make the reports available to the public.

(ii) Reasonable costs incurred by the department of criminal justice services to track and report data related to any infractions, violations, or criminal convictions that occur under any of the remaining cannabis statutes. The department of criminal justice services shall publish reports on its findings annually and shall make the reports available to the public.

(iii) Reasonable costs incurred by agencies of the state, including the state university of New York to research and evaluate the implementation and effect of the cannabis law. No more than four percent of these monies may be used for expenses related to administrative costs of conducting such research, and to, if appropriate, make recommendations to the legislature and governor regarding possible amendments to the cannabis law. The recipients of these funds shall publish reports on their findings at a minimum of every two years and shall make the reports available to the public. The research funded pursuant to this subdivision shall include but not necessarily be limited to:

(A) the impact on public health, including health costs associated with cannabis use, as well as whether cannabis use is associated with an increase or decrease in use of alcohol or other drugs;

(B) the impact of treatment for cannabis use disorder and the effectiveness of different treatment programs;

(C) public safety issues related to cannabis use, including, but not limited to studying the effectiveness of the packaging and labeling requirements and advertising and marketing restrictions contained in the act at preventing underage access to and use of cannabis and cannabis products, and studying the health-related effects among users of varying potency levels of cannabis and cannabis products;

(D) cannabis use rates, maladaptive use rates for adults and youth, and diagnosis rates of cannabis-related substance use disorders;

(E) cannabis market prices, illicit market prices, tax structures and rates, including an evaluation of how to best tax cannabis based on potency, and the structure and function of licensed cannabis businesses;

(F) whether additional protections are needed to prevent unlawful monopolies or anti-competitive behavior from occurring in the cannabis industry and, if so, recommendations as to the most effective measures for preventing such behavior;

(G) the economic impacts in the private and public sectors, including but not necessarily limited to, job creation, workplace safety, revenues, taxes generated for state and local budgets, and criminal justice impacts, including, but not necessarily limited to, impacts on law enforcement and public resources, short and long term consequences of involvement in the criminal justice system, and state and local government agency administrative costs and revenue;

(H) the extent to which the regulatory agencies tasked with implementing and enforcing the marihuana regulation and taxation act have been able to implement the provisions of such act, consistent with its intent and purposes, and whether different agencies might be able to do so more effectively; and

(I) any environmental impacts and hazards related to cannabis production.

(f) Reasonable costs incurred by the state police and the department of motor vehicles to implement the provisions of section sixty of the marihuana regulation and taxation act, to expand and enhance the drug recognition expert training program and technologies utilized in the process of maintaining road safety.

(g) Reasonable costs, subject to available appropriations, incurred by the office of cannabis management, the cannabis advisory board, or the urban development corporation to administer grants for qualified community-based nonprofit organizations and approved local government entities for the purpose of reinvesting in communities disproportionately affected by past federal and state drug policies, in accordance with the allowable uses of moneys deposited in the New York state community grants reinvestment fund established by section ninety-nine-kk of this article.

(h) Reasonable costs, subject to available appropriations, incurred by the division of criminal justice services and the office of court administration to implement the expungement provisions of sections seventeen and twenty-four of the marihuana regulation and taxation act, as added by a chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-one which added this section.

4. After the dispersal of moneys pursuant to subdivision three of this section, the remaining moneys in the fund deposited during the prior fiscal year shall be disbursed into the state lottery fund and two additional sub-funds created within the cannabis revenue fund known as the drug treatment and public education fund and the community grants reinvestment fund, as follows:

(a) forty percent shall be deposited in the state lottery fund for additional lottery grants to eligible school districts pursuant to subparagraph four of paragraph b of subdivision four of section ninety-two-c of this article, and shall be used to increase the total amount of funding available for general support for public schools; provided that notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, the amounts appropriated for such additional lottery grants shall be excluded from the calculation of: (i) the allowable growth amount computed pursuant to paragraph dd of subdivision one of § 3602 of the education law; (ii) the preliminary growth amount computed pursuant to paragraph ff of subdivision one of § 3602 of the education law; and (iii) the allocable growth amount computed pursuant to paragraph gg of subdivision one of § 3602 of the education law;

(b) twenty percent shall be deposited in the drug treatment and public education fund established by section ninety-nine-jj of this article; and

(c) forty percent shall be deposited in the community grants reinvestment fund established by section ninety-nine-kk of this article.