New York State legislators want a pay raise for the first time since 1999. Governor Andrew Cuomo wants young minorities to stop getting screwed by New York's bizarre "public view" marijuana law, and the NYPD's controversial "stop and frisk" policy -- and the governor made it clear yesterday that lawmakers won't get a pay bump until they get to work on decriminalizing "public view" marijuana.
"I would not even consider -- even consider a pay raise -- unless the people's business was being done in a thorough, responsible way," Cuomo told reporters yesterday.
"The people's business" also includes a raise in the minimum wage, which currently is $7.25 an hour. Cuomo wants it raised to $8.50. Read more »
New York decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 1977, but New York City police continue to arrest 50,000 people a year for pot possession after stopping-and-frisking them, then tricking them into emptying their pockets and revealing their baggies of weed, triggering the misdemeanor offense of public possession of marijuana.
In a bid to end that practice, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the Democratically-controlled Assembly moved to reform the decriminalization law by removing the public possession provision with Assembly Bill 7620, but Monday night, Republicans and their Conservative Party allies in the Senate effectively killed it. Read more »
While Senate Republicans in Albany, New York, seem poised to kill the bill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s modest marijuana legalization effort would represent a substantive civil rights advancement.
Cuomo’s proposal seeks to reduce the penalty for public possession of up to 25 grams — less than one ounce — of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a violation.
The maximum penalty for a first-time offender would be set at $100. Public use of pot would, however, remain a misdemeanor and thus an arrestable offense under Cuomo’s proposal. Read more »
Yesterday, the New York City Council passed Resolution 986-A which calls for an end to racially biased, costly, unlawful arrests. The resolution, introduced by Council Members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Oliver Koppell, is co-sponsored by a majority of Council members and passed during the monthly Stated meeting. The resolution calls for closing the loophole to clarify the marijuana possession law in New York. The New York State Legislature decriminalized personal possession of marijuana in 1977, finding that arresting people for small amounts of marijuana "needlessly scars thousands of lives while detracting from the prosecution of serious crimes.” Read more »
In an effort to persuade New York lawmakers to support Governor Andrew Cuomo's push to decriminalize "public view" marijuana arrests, a drug policy group has started a video campaign to illustrate how people are getting screwed by a loophole in the Marijuana Reform Act, which (supposedly) decriminalized weed in the Empire State in 1979.
As it stands, if you're busted with weed in private, you've committed a violation that's about as serious a crime as a parking ticket. However, if you're caught with weed in public, it's a misdemeanor. The loophole has led to the disproportionate arrests of young minorities (of the roughly 50,000 people arrested each year in New York for low-level marijuana offenses, 87 percent are black or Hispanic). Read more »
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New York State legislators want a pay raise for the first time since 1999. Governor Andrew Cuomo wants young minorities to stop getting screwed by New York's bizarre "public view" marijuana law, and the NYPD's controversial "stop and frisk" policy -- and the governor made it clear yesterday that lawmakers won't get a pay bump until they get to work on decriminalizing "public view" marijuana.
New York decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 1977, but New York City police continue to arrest 50,000 people a year for pot possession after stopping-and-frisking them, then tricking them into emptying their pockets and revealing their baggies of weed, triggering the misdemeanor offense of public possession of marijuana.
While Senate Republicans in Albany, New York, seem poised to kill the bill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s modest marijuana legalization effort would represent a substantive civil rights advancement.
Yesterday, the New York City Council passed Resolution 986-A which calls for an end to racially biased, costly, unlawful arrests. The resolution, introduced by Council Members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Oliver Koppell, is co-sponsored by a majority of Council members and passed during the monthly Stated meeting. The resolution calls for closing the loophole to clarify the marijuana possession law in New York. The New York State Legislature decriminalized personal possession of marijuana in 1977, finding that arresting people for small amounts of marijuana "needlessly scars thousands of lives while detracting from the prosecution of serious crimes.” 
In an effort to persuade New York lawmakers to support Governor Andrew Cuomo's push to decriminalize "public view" marijuana arrests, a drug policy group has started a video campaign to illustrate how people are getting screwed by a loophole in the Marijuana Reform Act, which (supposedly) decriminalized weed in the Empire State in 1979.
