ALBANY — Less than a month after eliminating the $229,000-a-year salary of Tremaine Wright, a former state assemblywoman who was appointed chair of the Cannabis Control Board in September 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul has moved to replace her with Jessica C. Garcia, another board member.
“Jessica Garcia has served on the Cannabis Control Board for over three years, helping to bolster an equitable cannabis industry in New York state, and meets all of the requirements to serve as chair,” said Kassie White, a spokeswoman for the governor. “The state thanks Tremaine Wright for her service as chair over the past few years.”
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The governor’s office had given no reason for eliminating Wright’s salary, except to note that salaries for state government board positions are rare. Her term had ended in 2024, although it could have been renewed. The other four members of the Cannabis Control Board have received $260 stipends on the days they attend meetings or events.
The removal of the chairperson’s salary was quietly slipped into a budget bill and was not the subject of any public debate by lawmakers. The decision followed last year’s massive leadership shakeup of the Office of Cannabis Management that included Hochul asking Chris Alexander, the first executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management, to step down following a review of his handling of the troubled rollout of New York’s retail marijuana industry.
Garcia is assistant to the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a national organization representing workers in the food supply chain and health care. She is also president of the board of directors of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, vice president of the Rural & Migrant Ministry board of directors, and chair of the advisory board of the Advocacy Institute.
At her confirmation before the state Senate Finance Committee on Friday, Garcia said she had been selected by the governor to serve on the board in 2021 “because of my work in labor, to be the voice for workers in the industry.”
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“While the market is still young, every month we’re seeing a greater diversity of products on the shelves,” Garcia told the panel. “As of May, we had 575 different products in the market, all of that in less than four years since (the Office of Cannabis Management) opened its doors. Through that period, I have felt my impact as a board member.”
The committee subsequently voted to confirm Garcia as chair of the Cannabis Control Board. The full Senate will consider her nomination on Monday.
Last year’s outside review of the embattled cannabis agency’s operations had revealed widespread problems that triggered what state officials said would be a major “overhaul” after litigation, poor communication and a stalled licensing system had hobbled the establishment of New York’s retail marijuana industry. That overhaul included sweeping leadership changes and resignations.
“We’re going to transform OCM itself. It’s past time for OCM to move from a startup mode into a fully operational regulatory agency,” Hochul said a year ago.
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Hochul announced Alexander’s departure last year — which was first reported by the Times Union — during a news conference at the Capitol that took place as he and other cannabis officials were listening to public comments during a monthly Cannabis Control Board meeting occurring at the same time.
Hochul had said he would assist with the leadership transition before pursuing “other opportunities,” but that agreement apparently fell apart and Alexander left the position abruptly last summer.
The overhaul of the troubled cannabis office included taking steps to improve communications with stakeholders, expedite the filling of vacant positions and ensure that applicants for licenses were no longer left twisting in the wind for months or longer. The outside report, issued by a task force led by Jeanette M. Moy, commissioner of the Office of General Services, faulted the cannabis office’s “relatively inexperienced leadership” and a lack of centralized operations, among other issues.
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Wright had escaped any criticism of her leadership of the board even as Alexander’s tenure had been rocky from the start. A mountain of litigation, regulatory missteps, allegations of favoritism for some retail industry applicants and repeated missed deadlines have overshadowed the rollout of an industry that — more than three years after marijuana was legalized — has seen just more than 120 retail shops open across the state.
