---
type: "Bill"
title: "Enacts the \"marihuana regulation and taxation act\"; repealer"
description: "Enacts the \"marihuana regulation and taxation act\"; establishes the cannabis law; defines terms; establishes the New York state cannabis control board and the office of cannabis management; outlines powers and duties thereof; authorizes the lawful use of medical cannabis; authorizes research programs related thereto; establishes a cannabis research license to permit a licensee to produce, process, purchase and/or possess cannabis for certain limited research purposes; relates to adult-use cannabis; authorizes a person to apply for a license to cultivate, process, distribute, deliver or dispense cannabis for sale in this state; relates to the description of cannabis, and the growing of and use of cannabis by persons twenty-one years of age or older; makes technical changes regarding the definition of cannabis; relates to removing certain references to marijuana relating to forfeiture actions; relates to the qualification of certain offenses involving cannabis; exempts certain persons from prosecution for the use, consumption, display, production or distribution of cannabis; relates to the definition of smoking; provides for the licensure of persons authorized to produce, process and sell marihuana; relates to the criminal sale of cannabis; relates to drug paraphernalia; adds a new article on cannabis to the penal law; authorizes a motion for resentence for persons convicted of certain marihuana offenses; levies an excise tax on certain sales of cannabis; creates the New York state cannabis revenue fund, the New York state drug treatment and public education fund and the New York state community grants reinvestment fund."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ny"
legislature: "New York Legislature"
session: "2021-2022"
identifier: "S 854"
citation: "New York S 854 (2021-2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["KRUEGER"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 14
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-01-06"
last_action: "2021-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51bb2d7b-f6df-4d44-ae89-c0ea042f2a57"
source_url: "http://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S854"
source_hash: "66a0328b179e8eb1e2086ce6891d158d3ad9dbd86a021b1373cbb52dbb22162d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ny"]
---

# New York S 854 (2021-2022) — Enacts the "marihuana regulation and taxation act"; repealer

Enacts the "marihuana regulation and taxation act"; establishes the cannabis law; defines terms; establishes the New York state cannabis control board and the office of cannabis management; outlines powers and duties thereof; authorizes the lawful use of medical cannabis; authorizes research programs related thereto; establishes a cannabis research license to permit a licensee to produce, process, purchase and/or possess cannabis for certain limited research purposes; relates to adult-use cannabis; authorizes a person to apply for a license to cultivate, process, distribute, deliver or dispense cannabis for sale in this state; relates to the description of cannabis, and the growing of and use of cannabis by persons twenty-one years of age or older; makes technical changes regarding the definition of cannabis; relates to removing certain references to marijuana relating to forfeiture actions; relates to the qualification of certain offenses involving cannabis; exempts certain persons from prosecution for the use, consumption, display, production or distribution of cannabis; relates to the definition of smoking; provides for the licensure of persons authorized to produce, process and sell marihuana; relates to the criminal sale of cannabis; relates to drug paraphernalia; adds a new article on cannabis to the penal law; authorizes a motion for resentence for persons convicted of certain marihuana offenses; levies an excise tax on certain sales of cannabis; creates the New York state cannabis revenue fund, the New York state drug treatment and public education fund and the New York state community grants reinvestment fund.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **S854** (committee substitute) — [source](http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?sh=printbill&bn=S854&term=2021&Text=Y)
2. **S854A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2021/S854A)

## Votes

- Assembly Vote — **94–56** (pass) · lower
- Finance Vote - Version: A — **16–7** (pass) · upper
- Rules Vote - Version: A — **14–7** (pass) · upper
- Floor Vote - Version: A — **40–23** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- KRUEGER — primary (person)
- BAILEY — cosponsor (person)
- BENJAMIN — cosponsor (person)
- BIAGGI — cosponsor (person)
- BRESLIN — cosponsor (person)
- BRISPORT — cosponsor (person)
- BROUK — cosponsor (person)
- COMRIE — cosponsor (person)
- COONEY — cosponsor (person)
- GIANARIS — cosponsor (person)
- HINCHEY — cosponsor (person)
- HOYLMAN — cosponsor (person)
- JACKSON — cosponsor (person)
- KENNEDY — cosponsor (person)
- LIU — cosponsor (person)
- MAY — cosponsor (person)
- MYRIE — cosponsor (person)
- PARKER — cosponsor (person)
- RAMOS — cosponsor (person)
- RIVERA — cosponsor (person)
- SALAZAR — cosponsor (person)
- SANDERS — cosponsor (person)
- SAVINO — cosponsor (person)
- SEPULVEDA — cosponsor (person)
- SERRANO — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-06** REFERRED TO FINANCE `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-27** AMEND (T) AND RECOMMIT TO FINANCE `amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-27** PRINT NUMBER 854A `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-30** REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO RULES `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-30** ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.641
- **2021-03-30** PASSED SENATE `passage`
- **2021-03-30** DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
- **2021-03-30** REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-30** SUBSTITUTED FOR A1248A
- **2021-03-30** ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.46
- **2021-03-30** PASSED ASSEMBLY `passage`
- **2021-03-30** RETURNED TO SENATE
- **2021-03-30** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-31** SIGNED CHAP.92 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/51bb2d7b-f6df-4d44-ae89-c0ea042f2a57`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New York legislature records).