Key Takeaways
- A new survey reveals financial struggles among New York’s cannabis businesses, with over 57% reporting net losses.
- The proposed S10643 bill could establish a Cannabis Industry Wage Board and change wage regulations, raising concerns for small operators.
- Labor advocates support S10643 for fair pay standards, but industry stakeholders worry it may harm struggling independent businesses.
- Lawmakers who supported cannabis legalization voted against S10643 due to concerns about its impact on small operators in a challenging market.
- Hochul’s decision on signing S10643 will impact the cannabis workforce and the industry’s financial sustainability moving forward.
New York’s cannabis market was supposed to be a case study in doing legalization the right way. Small operators, social equity applicants, and independent retailers were meant to have a real shot at building something sustainable. Five years after adult-use sales became legal, a new survey suggests that promise is still colliding with hard financial reality for a lot of license holders.
The numbers matter because they arrive at a pivotal moment. Lawmakers in Albany have already passed a bill that would add a formal wage-setting process for the cannabis industry, similar to what exists for farmworkers and fast-food employees. Whether Hochul signs it will shape how New York’s cannabis businesses operate for years.
This isn’t a simple story of business owners resisting fair pay. The real question is whether an industry still finding its financial footing can absorb a new layer of wage regulation without pushing out the very independent operators the law was designed to protect.
What Did the New Survey of New York Cannabis Operators Find?
More than 40 licensed cannabis businesses employing over 1,400 New Yorkers took part in the survey, according to reporting from the Times Union. Fifty-seven percent reported a net loss in their most recent fiscal year, and only 36% said they were profitable. Among those not turning a profit, 79% said they’d been losing money for an average of 15 months, with some reporting losses stretching as long as three years.
More than 60% of respondents were retail dispensary licensees, and over 90% were independently owned businesses rather than multi-state operators. Employment held roughly steady across most of these companies: 57% reported the same headcount or fewer workers than the year before, while 43% said their workforce had grown.
The survey also found that cannabis wages already run ahead of comparable retail jobs. The average cannabis worker earns $25.87 an hour, about 19% above similar occupations statewide, and cannabis retail workers average $25.55 an hour, roughly 25% higher than the typical New York retail wage of $20.47.
Who Conducted the Survey, and Does That Matter?
Yes, and it’s worth being upfront about it.The Safe and Affordable Cannabis for New York Association, a coalition of cannabis stakeholders actively pushing Hochul not to sign S10643, commissioned the survey. FTI Consulting conducted it using anonymized data from licensed operators. Association chair Osbert Orduna, founder of The Cannabis Place, said the findings confirm that “New York’s cannabis workforce is paid more than any other retail sector in the state, even as the businesses that employ them are struggling to survive.”
That framing doesn’t make the underlying numbers wrong. But it does mean this is industry-commissioned research designed to support a specific policy position, not an independent state audit. Readers should treat the figures as a useful data point from an interested party rather than a neutral government census.
What Is S10643, and What Would It Change for New York Cannabis Businesses?
S10643, sponsored by Sen. Jessica Ramos, cleared the Senate 37-23 and passed the Assembly on June 5, 2026, according to the bill’s official record. It does two main things.
First, it repeals New York’s existing requirement that cannabis license holders enter into labor peace agreements with unions as a condition of licensure. Second, it directs the state Department of Labor to convene a Cannabis Industry Wage Board tasked with studying and recommending minimum wages for the industry.
The bill also adds new transparency requirements. Applicants and renewal applicants would need to disclose their full ownership structure, any management service agreements, and a public report showing salary ranges and average scheduled hours for each job title.
If Hochul signs it, most provisions take effect immediately, but the wage board and disclosure sections wouldn’t kick in until January 31, 2027, giving the industry a runway before the new rules apply.
How Would the Cannabis Industry Wage Board Actually Work?
The wage board would have three members: one representative from the licensed cannabis industry, one from the New York State AFL-CIO, and a public chairperson appointed by the labor commissioner.
According to legal analysis from Bond, Schoeneck & King, the board must hold its first hearing by March 1, 2027, and submit a final report with wage recommendations to the governor and Legislature by December 31, 2027.
The report must address minimum hourly wages separately for cultivation, processing and packaging, distribution, and retail and delivery workers. The board can also recommend wages for additional job classifications or conclude that current pay levels are already adequate, so a mandated increase isn’t guaranteed.
The board can also hold public hearings, subpoena witnesses and records with the same force as the state Supreme Court, and take depositions. Whatever wage floor it eventually sets would also become the starting point for any future collective bargaining in the industry.
Why Did the Architects of New York’s Legalization Law Vote Against S10643?
Two of the lawmakers most responsible for legalizing cannabis in New York broke from their party on this bill. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and state Senator Liz Krueger, the chief sponsors of the 2021 law that legalized adult-use cannabis, both voted no. Their opposition, alongside other Democrats, came as industry stakeholders pointed out that more than 40% of the state’s cannabis businesses aren’t profitable and some had already begun cutting staff hours.
Their votes are notable because they weren’t offered by lawmakers hostile to labor protections. Peoples-Stokes and Krueger built the framework that created social equity licenses and prioritized small, independent operators. This hesitation points to a real concern: a wage board, however well-intentioned, could harm the very businesses that legalization was supposed to help most.
What Are Industry Groups Asking Governor Hochul to Do?
Industry stakeholders aren’t simply asking for a veto. If Hochul does sign the bill, the coalition behind the survey wants several changes. They’d like the board’s composition adjusted, its broad subpoena powers scaled back, and any wage recommendations phased in gradually, similar to how New York implemented its farmworker minimum wage. They’re also asking for a state tax credit on overtime pay, a benefit that was extended to farm employers.
Jeremy Rivera, president of the Cannabis Retail Alliance of New York, said independent dispensaries are “running on tight margins in a market that still competes with illicit trade,” and that “a wage board adds cost without adding customers.” Joe Calderone of the Cannabis Farmers Alliance has made a similar argument specific to cultivators, saying a mandated wage increase would force local operators to shut down entirely.
Labor advocates, including the AFL-CIO, back the bill as a way to formalize fair pay standards in an industry still working out its labor practices. That tension, between protecting workers and protecting the businesses employing them, is really the heart of this.
What Does This Mean for Small and Independently Owned Dispensaries?
Since over 90% of survey respondents were independently owned, a new wage mandate would hit small business owners the hardest. Unlike large multi-state operators with deeper balance sheets, small businesses simply don’t have the financial cushion to absorb these added costs. It would land on small businesses already reporting losses averaging 15 months. A larger company with capital reserves and economies of scale can absorb a wage floor increase more easily than a single-location dispensary competing against the illicit market on price.
There’s also a legal wrinkle shaping the timing. A federal lawsuit pending in the Southern District of New York challenges the state’s existing labor peace agreement requirement on First Amendment and National Labor Relations Act grounds. Some industry stakeholders believe concern over losing that case may have influenced the push to repeal labor peace agreements and replace them with the wage board instead.
What Should New York Watch for Next?
The real test isn’t whether New York can pass a bill that sounds pro-worker. The real question is whether the state can build a wage-setting process that raises standards without pushing independent operators out of a market they were promised a fair shot at competing in. The wage board doesn’t have to set a higher minimum wage at all. It has the discretion to determine that current pay is already adequate.
Hochul’s decision will signal how New York balances those competing goals. If she signs S10643, the board’s first hearing by March 2027 will be an early indicator of which way the state is leaning. Anyone with a stake in New York cannabis, from workers to license holders to social equity applicants, should be watching Albany closely over the next year.
Frequently Asked Questions
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No. The bill has passed both the Senate and Assembly and is currently before the governor, but she can sign it, veto it, or let it become law without her signature under New York’s constitutional timelines.
If S10643 is signed into law, the wage board provisions will take effect on January 31, 2027. The board must hold its first hearing by March 1, 2027, and submit its wage recommendations by December 31, 2027.
No. The bill doesn’t set a specific dollar figure. It creates a process where a three-member board studies wages across cultivation, processing, distribution, and retail before recommending any changes, and it could conclude that current pay is adequate.
Survey respondents point to tight margins, competition from the unlicensed cannabis market, and rising operating costs. Dispensaries made up more than 60% of respondents, and independently owned businesses — without the scale of larger multi-state operators — accounted for over 90%.
The repeal would eliminate the requirement for license holders to maintain a labor peace agreement with a union as a condition of certification, registration, or licensure. Existing agreements, however, would continue to operate under their own terms.
