Big News for Licensees Not In Compliance with New Distancing Rules from Schools & Houses of Worship

By: Andrew P. Cooper, Esq., LL.M.

Recently, Governor Hochul signed Assembly Bill A10140 into law, providing critical relief and regulatory certainty to cannabis dispensaries impacted by the proximity measurement controversy that has roiled New York's legal cannabis market for months.

The new law addresses the proximity measurement methodology that OCM uses to determine whether retail dispensaries comply with distance requirements from schools and houses of worship. As most of you very specifically recall, on July 28, 2025, OCM acknowledged a critical error in how it had been measuring required distances from schools, using a "door-to-door" method rather than the property-line standard required under the MRTA. On September 25, 2025, the Albany County Supreme Court signed an agreed upon Preliminary Injunction Order (“PI Order”) in ConBud, et al. v. New York State Cannabis Control Board, et al., preventing OCM from applying its "new" and more restrictive measuring process up through and including February 15, 2026. Relatedly, that PI Order required that provisional licensees acquire “Licenses” prior to February 15, 2026, or they would no longer be eligible to do so using sites approved under the terms of the PI Order. Further, the Office indicated that for those who had received their final license prior to February 15, 2026, unless there was a change in the law, they would be ineligible for renewal.

The new law effectively resolves the ConBud litigation and issues raised by the change in distancing rules by codifying OCM's prior measuring standard, and it provides regulatory certainty that dispensaries, landlords, lenders, and investors have been seeking. Any licensees impacted by this issue have been grandfathered in, along with any provisionally approval retail applicants who received proximity protection under the pre-July 28 policies applied by OCM.

That being said, A10140 leaves a few open issues. First, the bill is not as clear as we would like regarding the scope of impacted licensees, as some may argue that CAURD licenses were not issued pursuant to Section 68-a, Section 72 or Section 73 and, therefore, fall outside the scope of the new law (please don’t worry since this is extremely unlikely). Second, the defined term “School Grounds” is no longer used in Section 72.6 and was replaced with the term “school” which is not defined in the MRTA.

If you have questions about how A10140 may impact your license, renewal eligibility, or pending application, contact FRB’s Cannabis & Psychedelics attorneys at (516) 599-0888 or fill out the form below. 

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