BILL NUMBER: S7481

SPONSOR: COONEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the cannabis law, in relation to the location of the
principal office of the cannabis control board and office of cannabis
management

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Allow the Office of Cannabis Management to have its principal offices in
the county of Albany, outside the City of Albany.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends subdivision 6 of section 7 of the Cannabis Law to
allow the principal office of the office of cannabis management to be
located in the county of Albany.

Section 2: The effective date of this bill.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

When the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into
law on March 31, 2021, it mandated where the location of the Office of
Cannabis Management's (0CM) Headquarters was to be. MRTA Article 2 (New
York State Cannabis Control Board), Section 7, subdivision 6 states that
"The Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management shall
have its principle office in the City of Albany, and maintain branch
offices in in the cities of New York and Buffalo and such other places
as it may deem necessary."

The current OCM HQ is located in the W. Averell Harriman State Office
Building Campus, which was always understood to be a temporary location.
Another agency vacated this space in 2021 allowing for OCM to have a
place to begin operations as quickly as possible while also searching to
find a permanent home in the city, working closely with the NYS Office
of General Services' (OGS) Division of Real Estate and Leasing Services,
as well as with the NYS Division of Budget (DOB.)  The space at Building
9 on the campus has since stopped meeting our capacity needs as well and
there is an urgent need to execute a lease at a new location that can
fit the growing agency.

For more than a year the search continued and analysis was completed for
a locations that could: 1. Fit all current staff as well as all future
staff that the Office is looking to hire within the next budgetary
cycle. The office is currently just over 50% staffed, so there must be
room to grow. 2. The location needed to have ample parking for this
still-growing staff, something that is hard to find in a city location
for an Office currently with 150+ employees, with more coming on. 3. The
OCM fleet of vehicles used on a regular basis by the Compliance team and
the Enforcement team when they are out on assignment needed a permanent
home at the location of the building so that staff has quick and easy
access to that fleet. In 2021, there was an original plan to move the
OCM into one of the four "Agency Buildings" on the Empire State Plaza,
however the construction and refurbishing was expected to last for 3
years and there was still the issue of capacity, parking and a large
space for the fleet. Through the efforts of OCM/OGS/DOB, three potential
locations were chosen which all happened to be outside of the city
borders but within in the County of Albany.

After financials for the buildout of the office space; IT equipment; and
the cost of furniture were analyzed and reviewed by DOB, a location that
cost the state the least amount of money, and that met OCM's require-
ments for growth was settled on and approved by both DOB and OGS. This
legislation makes a simple amendment to the MRTA to change the mandate
from "the City" of Albany to "the County" of Albany, reflect the reality
on the ground in terms of making good-faith efforts of OCM, OGS, and DOB
at staying within the borders of the City of Albany, but being unable to
secure a location that meets all of the needs of the still growing
Office.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately