Staten Island Senator Diane Savino got a bit rattled today during a question and answer session with the Albany Press Corp on when the medical marijuana bill will be introduced in her chamber. The Compassionate Care Act, a bill sponsored by the senator and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, has passed in the Assembly before but has yet to come to the floor for a vote in the senate. Savino, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference that co-leads the chamber, did not explain why the legislation was not ready to be introduced. When pressed by reporters about why that was she repeated the line "when the bill is ready it will come to the floor" six times in just over a minute.
Governor Cuomo last week in his State of the State Address announced a plan to allow 20 hospitals across the state to prescribe the drug, saying New York would monitor the program and evaluate its effectiveness. No details about when that might begin.
