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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline APRIL 26, 2024 | The Indian Eye 18

Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar’s Celebrates Victory on

“Smokeout Act” Passing in The State Budget

OUR BUREAU cannabis to children 2. Operating next to a school 3.
Selling unregulated cannabis 4. Having the presence
Albany, NY of illegal firearms.
I categories can be closed upon a second inspection.
am proud to announce that we have achieved
Illegal shops that do not fall into one of the above
victory. Today, after weeks of negotiations, my
SMOKEOUT Act will pass in the state budget.
sage of this law counts for the purposes of padlocking.
The law will be effective immediately, and will allow Any previous inspection conducted before the pas-
us to quickly close the approximately 36,000 illegal Violating a padlock order is now a Class A mis-
smoke shops that have ballooned across our state,” demeanor.
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar said on Thurs- In the interests of fairness, there are due pro-
day. “These past few months, I launched “Operation: cess provisions that give violators a chance to cure
SMOKEOUT” that brought New Yorkers togeth- fice of the Sheriff will now be able to deputize the and be heard. Violators can file an appeal within 7
er across all 5 boroughs and backgrounds with the NYPD and all agencies to help padlock the shops. days. They are entitled to a hearing on the appeal
common cause of shutting down these illegal shops. This means New York City can use its full manpower within 3 days of filing. A decision on the appeal must
Today is a historic victory for public safety, common to get the job done. be rendered 4 days after the hearing. Failure to ap-
sense, and the health of our children. The people “The next few weeks, I will be raiding illegal peal leads to a default judgment against the violator.
have spoken, and Albany has listened,” she added. smoke shops across New York City with Sheriff An- Municipalities outside New York City will have
The SMOKEOUT Act calls for local control thony Miranda, padlocking and shutting them down the power to create their own cannabis enforcement
and for the power to shut down shops to be put in for good,” said the New York state assemblywoman. schemes by passing new local laws.
the hands of the cities and municipalities. I am proud Additional details of the provisions in the bud- “I would like to thank Governor Hochul,
to say that New York City and all localities will now get include the following: Speaker Carl Heastie, Majority Leader Andrea
have the power to shut down illegal cannabis shops Localities can padlock a shop immediately pro- Stewart-Cousins, and Mayor Eric Adams for their
on their own, without waiting for the State Office of vided that the shop is an “egregious actor,” defined partnership in making the SMOKEOUT Act the
Cannabis Management. In New York City, the Of- as falling into any one of four categories: 1. Selling law of the land,” she added.

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