S 8332: Enacts the "small cannabis farmer relief act" in relation to authorizing certain licensees who qualify as distressed farmer licensees and who legally cultivated cannabis during the two thousand twenty-two or two thousand twenty-three calendar year to expand their cultivation canopy.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8332 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE June 3, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. C. RYAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the cannabis law, in relation to enacting the "small cannabis farmer relief act"; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "small cannabis farmer relief act". 3 § 2. The cannabis law is amended by adding a new section 68-c to read 4 as follows: 5 § 68-c. Limited canopy expansion. 1. For the purposes of this section, 6 the following terms shall have the following meanings: 7 (a) "Canopy" or "cultivation canopy" shall mean an area to be calcu- 8 lated in square feet and measured using clearly identifiable boundaries 9 of all areas that will contain non-immature cannabis, including the 10 spaces within the boundaries. Canopy may be noncontiguous, but each 11 unique area included in the total canopy calculations shall be separated 12 by an identifiable boundary, including, but not limited to, interior 13 walls, shelves, greenhouse walls, hoop house walls, garden benches, 14 hedge rows, fencing, garden beds, or garden plots. Canopy does not 15 include areas used for seedling production, propagation of clones, main- 16 tenance of mother plants used for cloning, or nursery area. 17 (b) "Greenhouse" shall mean a structure or thermally isolated enclosed 18 area with rigid walls that maintains a specialized conditioned and 19 sunlit environment used for and essential to the cultivation, 20 protection, or maintenance of plants. A greenhouse may include addi- 21 tional artificial lighting and climate controls based on cultivation 22 techniques used. 23 (c) "Hoop house" shall mean specialized unconditioned agricultural 24 equipment having a framework covered with demountable non-rigid materi- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD13306-01-5 
 S. 8332 2 1 als unsealed from the outdoor elements, which allows for penetration of 2 sunlight to cannabis plants, specifically designed, constructed, and 3 used for agricultural production. A hoop house may include up to twenty 4 artificial lights for the propagation of seedlings or clones. Such 5 lights shall meet photosynthetic photon efficacy requirements as deter- 6 mined by the office. 7 (d) "Immature cannabis plant" or "immature plant" shall mean a canna- 8 bis plant which does not have a flower or buds that may be observed by 9 visual examination. 10 (e) "Mother plant" shall mean an immature cannabis plant that is main- 11 tained in an immature state indefinitely and intended to be used for 12 propagation. 13 (f) "Nursery area" shall mean an area to be calculated in square feet 14 and measured using clearly identifiable boundaries of all areas that 15 will be used to produce clones, seedlings, immature cannabis plants, 16 cloned propagation material, tissue culture and cannabis seeds, includ- 17 ing the spaces within the boundaries. Provided that the primary purpose 18 of the area is to produce clones, seedlings, immature cannabis plants, 19 cloned propagation material, tissue culture or cannabis seeds, a nursery 20 area may also contain mature and immature cannabis plants. A nursery 21 area may be noncontiguous, but each unique area included in the total 22 area calculations shall be separated by an identifiable boundary, 23 including, but not limited to, interior walls, shelves, greenhouse 24 walls, hoop house walls, garden benches, hedge rows, fencing, garden 25 beds, or garden plots. 26 (g) "Photosynthetic photon efficacy" shall mean the measure of photon 27 output in micromoles per second divided by the watts needed to produce 28 the light. 29 2. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any 30 licensee who qualifies as a distressed farmer licensee and legally 31 cultivated cannabis during the two thousand twenty-two or two thousand 32 twenty-three calendar year shall be eligible to apply to expand their 33 canopy as provided in this subdivision. 34 (b) Such eligible licensees may apply to the office, in a form 35 prescribed by the office, to expand their canopy. Eligible licensees 36 making such an application to the office shall also submit to the 37 office, in a form prescribed by the office, verification of such 38 licensee's canopy cultivated in two thousand twenty-two or two thousand 39 twenty-three. Denials of applications made pursuant to this paragraph 40 may be appealed to the cannabis control board. 41 (c) Upon approval of such application, a licensee shall be authorized 42 to expand their cultivation canopy to up to twice the maximum square 43 footage cultivated in two thousand twenty-two or two thousand twenty- 44 three; provided, however, that (i) a licensee who cultivated up to twen- 45 ty-five thousand square feet of mixed light canopy in either two thou- 46 sand twenty-two or two thousand twenty-three may add an equivalent 47 amount of additional canopy to their licensed canopy pursuant to this 48 subdivision; and (ii) a licensee who cultivated up to one acre of 49 outdoor canopy in either two thousand twenty-two or two thousand twen- 50 ty-three may add an equivalent amount of additional canopy to their 51 licensed canopy pursuant to this subdivision; and provided, further, 52 however, that the expanded area of any licensee shall not exceed the 53 canopy maximum established by the office for such licensee's adult-use 54 cultivator license. 
 S. 8332 3 1 (d) No additional fees shall be assessed for canopy expansions author- 2 ized pursuant to this subdivision, including standard license renewal 3 fees. 4 (e) A microbusiness licensee who qualifies as a distressed farmer 5 licensee shall also be eligible to apply for canopy expansion pursuant 6 to this subdivision. 7 3. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, no licensee shall 8 be authorized to expand their canopy beyond the canopy maximums estab- 9 lished by the office for such licensee's adult-use cultivator license. 10 4. Expansions made pursuant to this section shall remain subject to 11 compliance with all applicable environmental, security, and testing 12 regulations. 13 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire on Decem- 14 ber 31, 2028, when upon such date the provisions of this act shall be 15 deemed repealed.